China's Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, is heralding new prospects for cooperation between China and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). [Special coverage]
The initiative, also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aimed at reviving the ancient trade routes that span Asia, Africa and Europe, has been hailed by Xi as making steady progress.
China sees ASEAN as a priority region in implementing the initiative, which is set to promote trade and infrastructure construction in Southeast Asia.
As the weekend ASEAN summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, declared that an economic community of the 10-nation bloc will be established by the end of the year, China's proposal to jointly build the Belt and Road with ASEAN countries carries more practical significance.
MUTUAL BENEFITS BROUGHT BY BELT & ROAD INITIATIVE
In October 2013, during a visit to Indonesia, Xi said China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to jointly build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and an even closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny, which has charted the course for the long-term development of the China-ASEAN relations.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang further proposed a "2+7 cooperation framework," mapping out practical cooperation in various areas.
"The China-ASEAN cooperation has brought tangible benefits to related countries," Song Junying, a researcher with China Institute of International Studies, told Xinhua.
Song highlighted that such proposals as the Belt and Road Initiative and international cooperation on production capacity have brought new opportunities for regional cooperation, from which ASEAN countries hope to gain momentum for development.
China and ASEAN's joint bid for constructing the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road not only builds on the ancient maritime silk route and the bilateral dialogue and cooperation over more than 20 years, but also reflects a common demand for win-win cooperation and development, Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Xu Bu told Economic Daily, a leading Chinese paper.
On interconnectivity, ASEAN countries need to further improve infrastructure construction and interconnectivity, while mechanisms such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund project proposed by China can provide long-term and low-cost financing services for ASEAN countries, Xu said.
On production capacity cooperation, China and ASEAN countries, with geographic vicinity, now enjoy close economic and trade ties and have high complementarity in their manufacturing sectors, which has laid a sound basis for cooperation in this regard, he said.
Besides, both sides can jointly build a variety of industrial parks, attract Chinese enterprises to invest in ASEAN countries and complete the building of regional supply, industrial and value chains, while elevating the status of China and ASEAN in global industrial distribution, Xu said.
