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.