Interview: China-ASEAN cooperation to go further and deeper, says Chinese envoy

China's development presents opportunities for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) while the realization of ASEAN Economic Community will also bring opportunities to China, Chinese ambassador to Brunei Yang Jiang said Saturday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Yang said "Looking into the future, China-ASEAN cooperation will go further and deeper. China stands ready to build a closer community of shared destiny with ASEAN so as to benefit our people in more tangible ways".

The ambassador said ASEAN is a success story. Despite so many twists and turns in the past half century, ASEAN is growing strong and tenacious, with its role so indispensable in fostering unity among its member states, promoting regional cooperation and maintaining regional peace and stability. ASEAN has won respect from the world.

ASEAN has undergone an extraordinary journey since the five countries of Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia signed the Bangkok Declaration on Aug. 8, 1967. With the realization of its goals of Political-Security, Economic and Social-Cultural Communities, the year 2015 will become a milestone in the history of ASEAN, said Yang.

"When China became ASEAN's Dialogue Partner in 1991, no one was able to imagine that China could become ASEAN's largest trade partner in 2009 and remain so ever since. In 2014, the trade volume between China and ASEAN surpassed 480 billion U.S. dollars, hitting an increase of 8.3 percent than the previous year, which is 4.9 percent higher than the average growth rate of China's overall external trade. By September 2014, two-way investment between China and ASEAN accumulated to 120 billion U.S. dollars. Not surprisingly, there are now more than 1,000 flights per week, and over 15 million travellers per year between China and ASEAN countries," the envoy noted.

The Chinese ambassador added that China and ASEAN are now consulting on upgrading their Free Trade Area, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is also under discussion among China, ASEAN and other partners.

"What is more important is that Southeast Asia is considered as one of the focal points in the 'One Belt and One Road' initiative proposed by China's President Xi Jinping, with which we can find new areas of combination of China's development strategy and that of ASEAN countries. More and more competitive Chinese companies are expected to invest and start their business in ASEAN countries, while the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, among others, emerges as another platform for China-ASEAN cooperation. New dynamism has thus been injected to our economic cooperation and trade."

The years gone by saw the continuous lifting of China-ASEAN relations and all-round growth of exchanges and cooperation in various fields, said the Chinese envoy.

"It is natural that the two sides may not agree on all issues. But the differences neither stop us from deepening mutual understanding and trust, nor stop our relationship from becoming more mature. As a matter of fact, both sides have realized that peace, cooperation and win-win solution are the best options for our common interests", Yang said.

Ambassador Yang said China always supports the ASEAN Economic Community building and ASEAN's centrality in regional cooperation. China's support to ASEAN not only promotes the development of China-ASEAN relationship but also lifts ASEAN's standing in the world. Endi