Treaty develops relations with ASEAN
2003-09-08 China Daily
China officially submitted a protocol asking to join the Treaty of Amity and
Co-operation in Southeast Asia at the ninth consultative meeting between
high-ranking officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) in mid-August.
Both sides agreed that the signing ceremony for China's entry to the treaty
will be held during the China-ASEAN summit next month. China will then become
the first non-member of ASEAN to officially join the treaty.
The treaty was signed in February 1976 by the five founding members of ASEAN
- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It is the basic
political document of ASEAN. The main issues dealt with in the treaty are:
mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity
and national recognition; non-intervention in other countries' internal affairs;
effective co-operation among member nations; peaceful solutions to disputes
through friendly negotiations and the renunciation of the threat or use of
force. The treaty was amended in 1987 and 1998, making it open to membership for
countries outside Southeast Asia.
Since 1998, ASEAN has expressed the hope many times that China would be the
first big power outside the region to join the treaty. In June this year, the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature,
approved China's accession to the treaty. This step paved the way legislatively
for China's official entry to the treaty.
China's entry again indicates the important position that the neighbouring
areas hold in China's diplomacy and it demonstrates that China's diplomatic
strategy is becoming increasingly clear.
To consolidate its surrounding environment, Beijing has undertaken a series
of positive measures, such as enhancing its relationship with traditional
friendly neighbours and actively taking part in solving regional disputes.
Realizing the lack of a mechanism for political co-ordination in Asia, China
has also begun to promote the building of regional co-ordination mechanisms -
for example, strengthening the political function of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation forum and initiating the establishment of the Shanghai Co-operation
Organization.
ASEAN is, of course, a key part in China's diplomacy. Furthering political
mutual trust through economic co-operation is one of China's diplomatic methods
to make breakthroughs in its relations with ASEAN.
The development of overall China-ASEAN relations has been positive since the
1990s. The 1997 financial crisis provided both sides with an opportunity to
promote a relationship of mutual trust and friendly co-operation. In addition to
economic relations, co-operation in the political and security fields has also
been increasingly enhanced.
What is worth noting is that the legal standing of this co-operative
relationship has been rapidly upgraded. The leadership of both China and ASEAN
issued a joint statement in 1997, announcing their decision to set up a
good-neighbourly partnership of mutual trust oriented towards the 21st century.
Both sides agreed unanimously to regard the treaty, the United Nations Charter,
the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and other recognized international
laws as the basic principles for dealing with mutual relations.
Last year, both sides signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive
Economic Co-operation to set up a free-trade area. A new basis for co-operation
was provided by the Joint Declaration on Co-operation in the Field of
Non-Traditional Security Issues. Reaching consensus on the need for a peaceful
solution to disputes in and the joint development of the South China Sea, China
and ASEAN also signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South
China Sea.
The regional integration of East Asia is perceived as a possible option to
achieve regional prosperity and stability, which has already become one of
China's long and mid-term strategic objectives.
China's entry into the treaty could well produce a chain reaction and evoke a
positive response from other countries in this region. In fact, before and after
China submitted its protocol to join the treaty, Japan, India and Russia also
expressed their intention to join the treaty. Undoubtedly, China's action will
advance a step forward towards the objective of regional integration.
Due to historical reasons and the size of China, ASEAN member countries have
in the past distrusted China. To China, it is critical to eliminate the
understandable apprehension of ASEAN in two ways.
First, China needs to show its sincerity in developing friendly and
co-operative relations with ASEAN through concrete action. China's behaviour
during the 1997 financial crisis, together with the favourable conditions
unilaterally offered by China with regard to the planned China-ASEAN free-trade
area, has demonstrated that China is sincere and serious in developing its
relations with ASEAN members.
Second, China needs to publicly and officially carry out its legal
obligations and to make a political promise to restrict its own behaviour. The
political and legal documents signed between China and ASEAN have provided a
legal basis and guarantee for ASEAN members to trust China.
Demonstrating its sincerity in being friendly towards and becoming partners
with its neighbours, China's imminent entry into the treaty actually amounts to
its joining a mutual non-aggression treaty.
China is a big country. It should be integrated into the world and be a
responsible country. Since the 1990s, China has accelerated its integration into
the world, particularly in the economic field. But China was not active in the
political and security fields due to its lack of understanding of the outside
world.
This has been changed greatly in recent years. At least in its diplomacy with
neighbouring countries, China has begun an omnidirectional form of foreign
co-operation that is no longer restricted to the economic, social and cultural
fields but has extended to the sensitive fields of security and politics.
China has realized that regional integration is not only an economic and
social process but also a political and security one. It has also realized at
the same time that, to gain the trust of surrounding countries or to play the
role that a big power should play in this region, it must integrate itself into
the regional community omnidirectionally and help make and abide by the rules of
the game with other countries. China's development of its relations with ASEAN
has demonstrated this great change in China's diplomatic strategy.
The author is a researcher with Peking University's School of International
Studies.
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