2030 VISION FOR ASEAN - CHINA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP: Perspectives From Think-Tanks by Fujian Li

Author:Fujian Li [Li, Fujian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789813271586
Google: 1vFOwAEACAAJ
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company Pte Limited
Published: 2018-01-15T06:10:43+00:00

III.

Challenges

No one can deny that over the past years, ASEAN and China have enjoyed the most unprecedented relations and cooperation which grew from strength to strength rarely seen in the grouping’s external dialogue. However, both ASEAN and China still went through some difficulties and challenges that need to be resolved in the future.

It has been obviously seen that one of fundamental objectives which have been, for a long time, valued by China in its relations with ASEAN, is to maintain Southeast Asia a peaceful and neutral region, free from dominance by any regional or outside power. However, this policy came up with mix feelings among ASEAN countries, that is, they view China with both suspicious and cautious optimism. The cautious optimism may cause from two reasons — the first reason is that historical precedence due to China’s past support of ethnic insurgent movements in ASEAN members, and another reason is uncertainty or ambiguity of the use of China’s power in regional affairs.

Some ASEAN countries concern about the rise of China. Typically, after the Cold War, China’s peaceful rise since Deng Xiaoping’s bold reforms of 1979 has been a remarkable historical development. Chinese leaders have transformed a poor society by an economic miracle to become now the second-largest economy in the world. Today, China is growing at rates unimaginable 50 years ago, a dramatic transformation no one predicted. The Chinese people have raised their expectations and aspirations. Every Chinese wants a strong and rich China, a nation as prosperous, advanced, and technologically competent as other major countries like America, Europe, and Japan. However, the real big test for China is whether China’s neighbors (some ASEAN countries) can learn to accommodate China’s rise and whether China itself can learn to address its neighbors’ concerns better. Both sides will have to be careful and pragmatic.

There still exist differences of development levels between ASEAN members and China. Most of ASEAN members are undeveloped and developing countries, but China has become an economic giant. These disparities lead to the assumption that the rich will control the poor. This condition will create a negative effect for the cooperation in some ways.

Border and maritime issues between ASEAN countries and china still become a sensitive problem, while Southeast Asia experiences their own internal security issues — particularly conflicts between member states, separatist conflicts, and nontraditional security concerns.

Mutual trust and cooperation in the region is the decisive factor to drive future development of strategic partnership. ASEAN and China have differences from each other in some ways; it is inevitable that perspectives on a particular issue may sometimes be arisen, such as the rise of China and South China Sea issues. It is therefore critical for ASEAN and China to review opportunities and challenges in the past to take foundations for further enhancing mutual trust and confidence, thus creating an environment to further strengthen friendly and good-neighborly relations by working together to overcome current challenges and move ASEAN–China relationship to a higher level.

To help overcome some of these hurdles, it

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