One noteworthy event was the signing of an agreement between China and the ASEAN countries on November 4 on conducting all-round economic cooperation, signalling that the process had started to set up a China-ASEAN free-trade area.

The following day, ASEAN and Japan signed a joint declaration on all-round economic cooperation, which aimed to liberalize trade and investment in all fields but agriculture within 10 years.

The two agreements formed part of a whole series of events.

Earlier, India expressed its willingness to sign a free-trade agreement with the ASEAN countries.

Last September, Australia and New Zealand signed declarations with the economic alliance, aimed at bringing their economic ties closer.

In October, the United States proposed an economic programme to encourage ASEAN members to carry out economic reform so that they could sign a free-trade agreement with Washington.

The European Union (EU) is planning a programme to strengthen economic links with the region. Russia is also keen on promoting economic relationship with the ASEAN countries by participating in East Asian economic cooperation.

Against the backdrop of the area's slow economic rebound and bleak economic prospects caused by the terrorist bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali, it was a real achievement that ASEAN could make itself an attractive partner for economic cooperation with the world's major countries and regional groupings.

The underlying reason for this should be mainly attributed to ASEAN's outstanding economic progress as well as its appropriate diplomatic tactics over the past few years.

Since it was established in 1967, ASEAN has scored substantial achievements in economics, diplomacy and the process of integration.

Before the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997, ASEAN had experienced a 30-year-long economic boom.

From 1970 to 1995, ASEAN members' gross domestic product (GDP) maintained an average annual growth rate of as high as 7 per cent for 25 consecutive years. The grouping's foreign-trade volume also increased from US$14 billion in 1970 to US$650 billion in 1995, making it the world's fourth-largest foreign trader only behind the EU, the United States and Japan.

Its process of integration has also made remarkable progress. By 1997, only 32 years after it was set up, ASEAN included all 10 Southeast Asian countries, despite their huge differences in political systems, ideologies, cultural traditions and levels of economic development.

In the diplomatic field, the organization - composed of medium-sized and small Southeast Asian countries - has successively organized and initiated a series of conferences, such as the Post-Ministerial Conference, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting, as well as the meetings between the ASEAN countries and China, Japan, and South Korea.

It also initiated and participated in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

With the participation of the world's major powers, such a series of cooperative mechanisms have helped maintain ASEAN's key role in Southeast Asia and multi-regional economic cooperation.

For example, the Post-Ministerial Conference - the earliest mechanism initiated and organized by the ASEAN countries - served as the most important channel of cooperation between the region and outside areas before the mid-1990s.

By initiating various cooperative mechanisms with other countries and regions, ASEAN has successfully won itself an important position in several dialogue mechanisms, thus creating a favourable multilateral cooperation network for its development.

China has contributed a lot to ASEAN's enormous achievements in its programme of economic cooperation with areas outside.

Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, China has twice served as a propelling force in helping ASEAN regain the international community's confidence and in promoting the development of East Asian cooperation.

The first time was China's commitment not to devalue its currency during the economic crisis, which effectively prevented the crisis from further spreading and deteriorating.

Undoubtedly, China's stable momentary policy provided timely assistance to the crisis-plagued Southeast Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The reason why East Asian countries were able to turn disadvantages into advantages at a critical time was mainly attributed to China's responsible attitude in maintaining stability in the region. So too was the setting-up of regular meetings between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea.

The second time was China's proposed establishment of a China-ASEAN free-trade area, which was first put forward by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji in 2000 and committed to paper late last year.

Against the backdrop of the Western economic slump and the weak recovery of the ASEAN countries during the post-crisis period, China's significant programme for the establishment of such a free-trade area within 10 years certainly received an active and swift response from the ASEAN countries.

It has now become a prevalent view among the ASEAN countries that the expected establishment of a China-ASEAN free-trade zone will be of strategic significance to the ASEAN countries, given that China's initiative will help the international community and outside investors once again have confidence in the region.

Subsequent events have proved that viewpoint correct.

Shortly after consensus was reached last year on a China-ASEAN free-trade area, other countries - such as the EU countries, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States - also expressed their wish to strengthen economic ties with the ASEAN countries.

The ever-improving economic cooperation framework with outside areas obviously serves the strategic interests of the ASEAN countries.

Importantly, China's commitment to unilaterally open its agricultural market to ASEAN countries will surely help narrow the economic gaps among the association's different members, thus contributing to the organization's internal integration.

With China's political sincerity, it is not difficult for ASEAN to achieve an appreciable increase in exports to China in the future.

Nevertheless, the ASEAN countries must still work hard to achieve an essential progress in their economic cooperation with the EU, Japan and the United States.

ASEAN also faces some unfavourable factors for its economic development: a gloomy global economic picture and the instability brought about by terrorist threats.

(China Daily January 6, 2002)