The relationship of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has entered the best period in history, said a Vietnamese scholar in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Since the establishment of a dialogue partnership in 1996, China and the ASEAN have expanded and deepen their relations through the cooperative mechanism like ASEAN+3 leaders meetings, East Asia Summit, and APEC meetings, said Do Tien Sam, director of Vietnam's Institute for Chinese Studies.

Do said that China's activeness in beefing up relations with the bloc is indispensable to the current good relationship.

He noted that after the Asian financial crisis, China took the responsibility of keeping its currency undepreciated, which contributed to the stabilization and development of regional economy.

In 2003, China joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia as first outsider of the grouping.

China-ASEAN relations are based on their enhanced political trust which has laid foundation for their cooperation in economy and other fields, Do said.

As a result, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has increased rapidly. In the past 15 years, bilateral trade increased by 15 times, or 20 percent annually. In 2006, the two-way trade reached US$160.8 billion and the figure is expected to reach US$190 billion in 2007.

By July 2006, ASEAN countries' investment in China had totaled US$39.95 billion. In the meantime, China's investment in ASEAN countries also increased rapidly. Currently, China is the largest investor in Cambodia and Laos.

The building of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) has also gained substantial results via such projects as the Early Harvest Program. Since July 2005, tariffs on more than 7,000 categories of commodities made in ASEAN countries have been cut when they were exported to China.

China and ASEAN have defined 10 major fields, including agriculture, manpower development, the Mekong River exploitation, transport, energy, culture and tourism, as the direction for future cooperation, he said.

Do said that the China-ASEAN FTA, covering a population of 1.8 billion and enjoying gross domestic product of US$2 trillion, is the largest FTA built by developing countries. The two parts should take the advantage of the development opportunity and deepen their economic cooperation to contribute to the peace, stabilization and prosperity of the region.

Founded 40 years ago, ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2007)