Development: The constant theme of China-ASEAN relations
The People’s Republic of China is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Over the last seven decades, China has accomplished what took developed nations several hundred years. The country emerged as the second largest economy in the world and managed to ensure adequate food and clothing for nearly 1.4 billion people most of whom now live a moderately prosperous life. It is now a country with substantially strengthened economics and technology and continuously improving foreign trade, living standards and international status and influence. Among developing countries that gained independence after the Second World War, China’s achievements have drawn world attention. Studying the development experience it gained in the process is certainly worthwhile.
In 2004, Joshua Cooper Ramo, former senior editor of Time magazine and advisor to leading US investment bank Goldman Sachs, framed China’s development model as the “Beijing Consensus,” which refers to political and economic policies that were implemented by Deng Xiaoping. The model spurred heated discussion in Europe, China and the world, putting China’s economic miracle in a global spotlight.
According to Washington Post, the global financial turmoil of 2008 illuminated the contrasting development models of different countries and spurred a trend of the Beijing Consensus replacing the Washington Consensus as the international community dealt with the economic turbulence. Some Western academics maintain the slanted view that the Beijing Consensus is a growth model without a democratic supervision mechanism. They ignore developing countries’ common will of seeking justice in distribution of global wealth and power.
According to The Times and Foreign Policy, the most significant transformation of the international system and shift of power in modern history will happen when developing countries led by China collectively eclipse developed nations and become the pacemakers of a new international economic order. China will play a major role in this process. Such predictions triggered a worldwide appetite for studying into China’s development experience.
Ramo noted that the development model China has adopted is suitable to its national and social conditions and a way to pursue sustainable and equitable development. In his view, China’s phenomenal economic success can be attributed to three contributing factors: innovation, determination to champion national sovereignty and interests and gradual efforts. Among them, innovation is the centerpiece of the Beijing Consensus. It encourages people to customize prescriptions for specific problems instead of seeking a one-size-fits-all solution.
Other academics have been questioning and criticizing China’s economic model with the argument that the Chinese economy cannot overcome the “middle-income trap.” Admittedly, China faces some challenges in its development, but historically, emerging problems have always been solved in the process of development. “Development is the ultimate solution to all problems.”
For China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), all developing economies, development has been a constant theme of relations. China and the group of countries have always marched forward hand in hand since the establishment of the dialogue partnership 28 years ago, in particular since the strategic partnership was formed 16 years ago. On many international occasions, Chinese leaders have reiterated policy regarding the ASEAN as a priority in China’s neighbor diplomacy and commitment to friendship and cooperation with ASEAN countries.
In trade and economic cooperation, China has remained ASEAN’s largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years. During the first half of 2019, ASEAN overtook the US as China’s second largest trading partner. China proposed a “2+7 cooperation framework” in 2013, which emphasizes a two-point political consensus of enhancing strategic trust and promoting economic cooperation across seven cooperation fields of politics, trade facilitation, interconnectivity, finance, maritime affairs, security and cultural exchange. In 2018, the two sides agreed to update the framework to “3+X.” With X representing an unknown variable in math, for China-ASEAN it will symbolize the exploration of new realms with the three pillars of political security, economics and trade and people-to-people exchange in mind.
China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund has been established to facilitate investment opportunities in infrastructure, energy and natural resources in ASEAN countries. A host of major projects on interconnectivity and cooperation in production capacity are underway. The largest free trade zone organized by developing nations has been established and upgraded to the point that more than 90 percent of commodities are exempt from tariffs.
Southeast Asian countries house major industrial parks and zones for China’s overseas economic and trade cooperation. Among 20 such zones approved by the Ministry of Commerce, seven are in ASEAN member states including Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia, accounting for more than a third of the total. The Cambodia Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone established with the support of China’s Jiangsu Province has been recognized as an exemplary project. As of 2019, the two sides have rolled out several events including the year for cultural exchange, tourist cooperation, innovation cooperation and media exchange, which have yielded fruitful results. Moreover, the China-ASEAN Expo, one of only a few state-level expos in China, has grown over 16 years. ASEAN holds a key position in regional cooperation under the framework of the China International Import Expo starting in 2018.
Youth exchange has been a major area for China-ASEAN cooperation as of late. So far, 30 China-ASEAN education and training centers have been established in Chinese universities. In 2018 alone, China invited 3,000 students from ASEAN member states to study in China. Over the next five years, it will invite 500 scientists from the region to conduct joint research and 1,200 young professionals to participate in training sessions in China. According to official plans, China will set up 10 joint laboratories in ASEAN countries.
China-ASEAN relations have entered a new phase with advances on all fronts. ASEAN also recognizes its partnership with China as among “the most dynamic and substantive.”
Guided by the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Vision 2030, the two sides are enhancing synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025. Construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is boosting synergy between the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt.
China-ASEAN ties are becoming more closely linked to development. A recent study by the World Bank showed that involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative will enable developing Southeast Asian and Pacific countries to expand their gross domestic products by 2.6 percent and 3.9 percent on average, respectively. In the future, pragmatic cooperation between China and ASEAN will be strengthened. The two sides will make concerted efforts to build a higher-level strategic partnership and a closer community with a shared future.
(The author is a researcher on international studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.)