Declaration of ASEAN-China ties studied

Declaration of ASEAN-China ties studied

HUANGSHAN, China (AFP): Top officials from Southeast Asian
countries have agreed to consider a Chinese proposal to draft and
sign a political declaration cementing their relations with the
Communist giant.

The proposal will be passed on to the foreign ministers of
each Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member state,
Abdul Kadir Mohamad, secretary-general of the Malaysian foreign
affairs ministry, said here yesterday.

Kadir was among the senior officials attending the third
annual China-ASEAN conference in this mountain resort in the
eastern Chinese province of Anhui.

Malaysia is currently chairman of ASEAN which also groups
Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

"The concept of having a political document is quite
acceptable. The important thing is what is to be contained and
expressed in the document," Kadir said.

He stressed that any such agreement should advance principles
and ideas contained in existing international and regional
declarations, and take into account the interests of both sides.

Apparently the confidence-building declaration envisaged by
China would set out guidelines for economic cooperation, as well
as political dialog and the future development of Sino-ASEAN
ties.

ASEAN, however, has never signed such documents with its
dialog partners before and would need to make a collective
decision on how to deal with China's proposal, the official said.
China only became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in July last
year.

"The paper is still at the level of senior officials. We will
present the proposal to our foreign ministers and ask them to
consider it and, if they deem it acceptable, to give us the
authority to move ahead," Kadir said.

The proposal was expected to be put before the ASEAN foreign
ministers at their annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July.

During the discussions here, China also expressed a
willingness to sign the Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear
Weapons Free Zone, but only through a protocol of accession
prepared for the five nuclear powers.

None of the five -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia
and China -- has so far signed the protocol because of concerns
over its provisions.

ASEAN is in the process of amending the content and China has
asked for consideration to be given to a provision which covers
territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones of countries,
an ASEAN official said.

Beijing is concerned that the provision might affect China's
claim to the Spratly islands in the South China Sea, which it
disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The planned one-and-a-half day meeting here ended ahead of
schedule after intensive discussions Thursday which dealt
formally with the issue of the Spratlys dispute for the first
time.

Some analysts here said yesterday that ASEAN's relationship
with China, once looked upon as a threat, has undergone a sea
change since they opened a dialogue three years ago.

ASEAN started its first consultation with China in the eastern
garden city of Hangzhou in 1995, after an incident in the
disputed Spratly Islands.