By Bi Lun

Yesterday's meeting of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK), has the potential to inject new vitality into the already booming economic and trade relations between the Chinese and their regional peers.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the Eighth Summit of the ASEAN Plus China, Japan and the ROK (10+3), and the China-ASEAN Summit(10+1) held in Vientiane, Laos yesterday and today.

The fruits of solidarity were rich for China and ASEAN, evidenced by the piles of signed agreements on aid, exchange and partnership programmes. The most prominent of these was the ASEAN-China Plan of Action to Implement the Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.

Distinct economic structures determine that China and ASEAN's respective comparative advantages are highly supplementary, which means partnership between China and ASEAN members can address many practical issues and needs.

The agreements China and ASEAN inked yesterday on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation and Dispute Settlement Mechanism, for instance, offered an example of what they can do to support each other.

The signing shows co-operation between China and ASEAN has been developed from the framework level to a more substantial content.

Paving the way for building up a China-ASEAN free trade area (FTA) by 2010, the agreements are expected to create a win-win situation for regional economic integration.

The landmark framework agreement on an FTA was signed between China and ASEAN at the Sixth China-ASEAN summit in Cambodia in 2002.

A breakthrough in East Asia's regional economic co-operation as well as a milestone in the Sino-ASEAN relations, the FTA plan is expected to create a free market encompassing 1.7 billion people, an aggregate GDP of almost US$2 trillion and two-way trade worth US$1.2 trillion.

The benefits should not stay just at the economic front. Regional co-operation is expected to enhance mutual trust and help the member states play a bigger role in world affairs.

While facilitating trade, it is inevitable that countries involved will encounter a certain amount of friction. The establishment of the mechanism for settling disputes is therefore of far-sighted significance.

China has always attached importance to its cooperation with ASEAN members, and follows a consistent policy of establishing friendly relations with its neighbours.

The strategic partnership geared towards peace and prosperity between China and ASEAN is in the interest of both sides and will improve the competitiveness of the whole region and contribute to a faster progress of East Asian cooperation as a whole.

(China Daily November 30, 2004)