China and ASEAN: Forever closer or close enough?

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China began to develop official ties with the Association of Southeastern Asian Nations (ASEAN) 26 years ago, after initial distrust between the two sides during the Cold War. As ASEAN celebrated its 50th birthday on Tuesday, their relations are much closer, despite differences on thorny issues like the South China Sea.

With expanding mutual interests and deepening trust, China and ASEAN are on the way to a higher level of strategic partnership and a more closely-related community of shared destiny.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the launching ceremony of the ASEAN Regional Forum Annual Security Outlook as part of the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meetings in Manila, the Philippines August 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

From dialogue to strategic partnership

China-ASEAN dialogue relations began when then Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen attended the opening session of the 24th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July 1991 as a guest of the Malaysian government. In July 1996, China became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN.

The two sides forged a strategic partnership in 2003, bringing cooperation in various fields to new heights.

In September 2012, China appointed Yang Xiuping as its first resident ambassador to ASEAN and established its Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta.

A Chinese tourist poses next to the ASEAN logo ahead of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Manila, the Philippines, August 2, 2017. /Reuters Photo

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, trade volume between China and ASEAN increased around 56-fold from less than eight billion US dollars in 1991 to 452.2 billion US dollars in 2016. China has been the largest trade partner of ASEAN for eight consecutive years, and ASEAN has been China's third-largest trade partner for six years in a row.

Meanwhile, China has become the biggest source of overseas tourists to ASEAN countries, with about 2,700 flights traveling between them every week.

In a congratulatory message on the 50th anniversary of ASEAN's founding on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country is willing to take the 15th anniversary in 2018 of the establishment of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership as an opportunity to build a closer community of common destiny together with ASEAN on the basis of what has been achieved so far.

Managing disputes over South China Sea

The South China Sea has been the thorniest issue between the two sides in recent years, as China and several ASEAN countries have overlapping territorial claims in the region.

During this year's ASEAN meetings in Manila, the two sides approved the framework of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed the "most concrete" progress of the meetings.

Wang described the achievement as a "very good foundation" for substantive consultation between the two sides in the future.

China and ASEAN countries have approved the framework of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea. /Xinhua Photo

China and ASEAN countries started negotiations for a COC 15 years ago.

Although the COC framework itself will not resolve all disputes, the Chinese foreign minister said the most important thing is to send a "positive signal".

"We believe that China and ASEAN should cherish the important progress that has been achieved through joint efforts and send a positive signal to the outside world together," he stressed on Sunday. "This is the most important consensus we have reached."

Xu Bu, Chinese ambassador to ASEAN, underscored that disputes over the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation between "directly involved parties", calling it a "consensus" among China and ASEAN countries.

"As a result of joint efforts by China and ASEAN countries including the Philippines, tensions in the South China Sea have cooled down," Xu wrote in an article published in the People's Daily on Monday, adding that situations in the region are presenting a "positive" trend.

Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea and consultation over the COC are the "right way" to properly manage differences, promote pragmatic cooperation and maintain peace and stability in the region, he noted.

Stay positive, stay friendly

Despite the rapidly expanding cooperation between China and ASEAN, almost all the "low-hanging fruit" has been harvested, Xu said last month when addressing a seminar titled "ASEAN at 50: A New Chapter for ASEAN-China Relations."

As cooperation enters "deep waters", the two sides should develop new ideas and break the bottleneck, he added.

In his People's Daily article, Xu outlined three pillars for China-ASEAN relations in the new era, including a focus on the general direction of peace and development, a cooperation blueprint integrating China's Belt and Road Initiative with the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and enhanced people-to people exchange.

"Both sides should always look at each other in a positive way, view each other as a development opportunity for itself, respect each other's national conditions and development path, and accommodate each other's major concerns," he wrote. "On issues that cannot be resolved at the moment, we should seek common ground while shelving differences and engage in friendly consultation, which will highlight the maturity and rationality of our bilateral relations."

If China and ASEAN stay positive and friendly with each other and focus on the big picture, an ever closer community of common destiny will be created between them, benefiting about two billion people living in the countries.