ASEAN and China form strategic partnership

Jusuf Wanandi, Jakarta

A new era has dawned in East Asia. ASEAN and China have forged a Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. This partnership will have positive implications that go beyond the relationship between ASEAN and China. It will benefit the wider East Asian region and the world. The strategic partnership is a means to making an effective contribution to regional and global peace and prosperity.

ASEAN and China will play an increasingly important role in global affairs. They also have a growing stake in global developments. They are open economies and are rapidly integrating into the global economy. They want to cooperate with each other so that their full integration into the global economy can proceed smoothly -- for each of them and without causing major dislocations within the global economy.

The economies of ASEAN, and particularly China, because of its size, will assume a more prominent place in the global economy within the next two decades. The ASEAN countries will continuously reform, restructure and integrate their economies toward the creation of a single market and production base in 2020.

China, on its part, is making the same effort, and is doing that at a remarkably rapid pace. ASEAN and China can benefit from each other's experiments and experiences. The Framework Agreement for ASEAN-China Closer Economic Relations provides a forum for such productive and open exchanges. They should be undertaken on a regular basis with the involvement of experts from academia, business and the policy community -- from both sides as well as from the wider region.

The transformation of the economies of ASEAN and China may be one of the major developments in the 21st century. Both sides must make a special effort to prevent misperceptions and misunderstandings regarding their development by the global community.

ASEAN and China will need to participate actively in various regional cooperation arrangements, the ASEAN Plus Three, the East Asian Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), as well as in the international arena -- the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and other such bodies. Their increased role in regional and global affairs will shape and be shaped by the emerging regional and evolving international regimes.

ASEAN and China can have a greater influence if they coordinate and harmonize their policies and activities. They can help create a globalization environment that will better facilitate the pursuit for progress of all developing countries. The strategic position of ASEAN and China in those regional and international bodies should be employed to the maximum. They should initiate and actively engage other regional and international participants in the discussion, formulation and implementation of action plans.

To be effective, ASEAN and China have to develop and nurture good relations with other powers in the region, in particular Japan, the United States and India. In this context, ASEAN is in a favorable position, because it has excellent economic and political relations with other regional countries, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the United States and the European Union.

ASEAN has pursued regional cooperation and integration in Southeast Asia and, at the same time, deepened its relations with all its partners. This reflects its policy of open regionalism, which should also characterize the ASEAN-China strategic partnership. In building an ASEAN Community, ASEAN governments have agreed to intensify the engagement of civil society in regional community building.

The strengthening of the ASEAN-China partnership also necessitates greater people-to-people interaction and cooperation. The voices of the people should also be brought to the attention of governments. A second track ASEAN-China collaboration should be encouraged and facilitated by governments, and be invited to develop ideas and make concrete suggestions to substantiate the strategic partnership.

Economic, political and security issues have become intertwined. Many new cross-border security issues directly affect the people. Although ASEAN and China need to give attention to traditional security issues, such as on the Korean Peninsula, it is the new security issues that require their priority attention. These include trans-border environmental problems, cross-border health issues, drug and people trafficking, smuggling and piracy.

They pose a real threat to the security of the peoples in the region, but they can become sources of conflict among states. These issues form a part of the agenda of the ASEAN Regional Forum, and the time has come for this forum to develop mechanisms for conflict prevention beyond the confidence-building measures. ASEAN and China can initiate this process as both parties have developed a high degree of trust and confidence. Others will then be encouraged to enhance their participation in this forum.

ASEAN and China are also faced with the common challenge of political development so as to be able to sustain their longer- term economic and national developments. Their open economies need to be accompanied by a gradual opening up of political systems. Some ASEAN countries have begun this process and can share their experience with other ASEAN countries and China.

Recent experience in the region has shown that nations that are ill-prepared to undergo political transformation have experienced great and costly disruptions. Open exchanges on these challenges can be facilitated by the second-track. Such exchanges can make important contributions to political development in the two parties because of the mutual trust and mutual understanding that have developed between them.

ASEAN and China must not forgo this historic moment in their relationship. They have produced a variety of initiatives that can further strengthen their mutual trust and mutual understanding. However, they must rightly focus on the strategic initiatives of working together to deepen their relations and at the same time be actively engaged to promote cooperation, peace and prosperity in the wider region.

The vehicles for doing so are there. They must be willing to make the investment to develop mechanisms to realize the East Asian regional objectives, strengthening of trans-Pacific relations through APEC, and productive interactions with other regions in the world through ASEM and FEALAC.

The writer is vice chairman of the Board of Trustees and a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.