China wants faster FTZ talks with SE Asia

China wants faster FTZ talks with SE Asia

Reuters, Beijing

China hopes its attendance at a Southeast Asian summit early next month will help speed up talks on a free trade zone and show that it is serious about economic and political integration with the region.

China would become the first non-member of the Association of South East Asian Nations to join its trade and security Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, Fu Ying, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's department for Asian affairs, said on Friday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Bali, Indonesia, from Oct. 6-8 for the ASEAN meeting.

"We hope that the negotiation process will be sped up, but the target set for the free trade zone remains the same, that is 2010," Fu told reporters.

"We have only seven years to complete all the negotiations, so we have to work very hard to be able to catch that date."

China is keen to promote political and economic links with its southern neighbors but a simmering dispute with several ASEAN members over ownership of a group of islands in the South China Sea has raised concern over its territorial ambitions.

Many countries in Southeast Asia are also wary that China's growing economic power may be sucking investment away and fear improvements in its military in recent years could be used to assert authority in the South China Sea.

Japan and India are also vying for political and commercial influence in the region where the United States also has strong links.

China had already agreed with Thailand an "early harvest" deal of tariff cuts on fruit and other agricultural products that would go into effect on Oct. 1, Fu said.

A similar deal would be signed during the so-called "10+1" meeting of the ASEAN states -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus China, and hopefully go into effect on January 1, she said.

Fu said China was joining the amity treaty as a sign it was committed to further integration with Southeast Asia.

Wen would also suggest the region set up a disease and epidemic monitoring system in the wake of this year's outbreak of SARS, Fu said.