Asia-Pacific

ASEAN official's visit expected to boost trade relations

By Cai Xiao and Lei Xiaoxun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-17 07:47
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BEIJING: China is expected to strengthen its strategic partnership and enhance cooperation with Southeast Asia's largest trade bloc during a weeklong visit starting Wednesday by a key official of the trade body, experts and officials told China Daily on Tuesday.

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Pitsuwan Surin, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is expected to officially kick-start his trip from Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is expected to hold talks with Surin on issues of mutual concern, chiefly economic cooperation.

"In general, Sino-ASEAN relations have developed well," said Luo Yongkun, a researcher with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. "Although there are several divergences on the implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA), both partners are still working together to mend the rift and enhance cooperation, and a win-win outcome can be expected," Luo said.

The two sides may also discuss topics such as the diplomatic relations between China and ASEAN member countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

China and the ASEAN launched a cooperation dialogue in 1991 and signed the China-ASEAN Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Cooperation in 2002.

China and the ASEAN have cooperated successfully in various areas over the last two decades, said Qin Gang, the foreign ministry spokesman last Thursday, citing the implementation of the FTA from Jan 1.

Xu Ningning, deputy secretary-general of the China-ASEAN Business Council based in Beijing, said the development of the China-ASEAN FTA has been smooth.

"At the China-ASEAN FTA Forum held on January 7, senior officials from Southeast Asian nations all spoke highly of the FTA's implementation," he said. "Although Indonesia had voiced its worries, we believe ASEAN should take advantage of the speed of China's fast growth," Xu said business settlements in the renminbi were a growing trend in China-ASEAN trade, but it was unlikely to beat the entrenched dominance of dollar settlements in international trade.

"We have established pilot zones for RMB-denominated transactions and they have progressed well," he added. "We have already seen that the yuan is accepted in a number of Southeast Asian nations, which have called for more pilot zones to be established. However, the US and the ASEAN have very close economic and trade ties, therefore it is impossible for the yuan to replace the dollar at the moment," Xu said.

Trade between China and the ASEAN touched $21.48 billion in January, up 80 percent year-on-year, with China's exports to the ASEAN increasing by 52.8 percent and ASEAN's exports to China rising by 117.3 percent, Qin said in last Thursday's press briefing.