State leaders pose for group photos at the 10th East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 22 (XINHUA)

Regional cooperation in East Asia is preparing to enter a new phase, where countries use a series of regional intergovernmental bodies to increase trade, invest in cross-border infrastructure projects, and work with each other to speed up development.

Over the course of several days representatives of member countries from these bodies came together to solidify their support for such a path forward. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently attended concentric meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 18th ASEAN-China Summit, the 18th ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit, as well as the 10th East Asia Summit on behalf of the Chinese Government.

Most recently, Premier Li, together with other leaders of East Asia, pledged joint efforts to deepen collaboration on regional integration during the annual East Asia leaders' meetings that were held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, on November 21-22.

Inter-ASEAN cooperation 

In his address at the ASEAN-China Summit, Premier Li said that China sees ASEAN countries as a priority in its foreign policy, and that China supports the bloc's integration process and the construction of the ASEAN Community. China also upholds ASEAN's centrality in regional cooperation.

"Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN dialogue," Li said. "China is willing to work with ASEAN countries to enhance political trust, trade and cultural cooperation, to boost building a closer China-ASEAN community of shared destiny."

Premier Li proposed that China and ASEAN as a whole strengthen cooperation mechanisms and implement the third five-year plan of action. China will continue talks with ASEAN members on the Treaty on Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Additionally, Li called on both China and ASEAN to accelerate the "upgrade" of economic and trade cooperation.

During the summit, representatives of China and ASEAN countries signed a protocol on deepened cooperation on bilateral trade. The protocol covers a wide spectrum such as trade in goods, services, investment, economic and technological cooperation, and is a supplement to the original agreement of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Its initial framework agreement was inked in 2002 and the area had been completed in 2010.

With the upgraded agreement, both sides will further open their services, allow each other to establish solely-owned or joint-venture companies, and reduce regional restrictions. Thanks to preferential policies in the proposed trading area, the trade volume between China and ASEAN grew nearly nine times from $54.8 billion in 2002 to $480.4 billion in 2014, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

At the meeting, leaders of China and ASEAN also vowed to realize the target of scaling up two-way trade to $1 trillion by 2020.

Shared communities 

ASEAN is also stepping up efforts to establish the first sub-regional community. In the 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration that was adopted at the 27th ASEAN summit on November 22, all 10 leaders of the regional bloc announced that they will complete the establishment of the ASEAN Community by the end of the year. The community is comprised of three pillars: the Political and Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community, a creation which will be seen as a milestone in the process of the bloc's integration.

"The establishment of the ASEAN Community will help the bloc enhance unity and coordination on allocating resources and planning projects, which will also be beneficial for China to carry out cooperation with ASEAN countries," said Song Junying, an associate researcher of China Institute of International Studies.

China not only welcomes the establishment of the ASEAN Community but also its precedent in developing relations with ASEAN countries, said Ruan Zongze, Deputy Director of China Institute of International Studies. For example, China was the first country to sign free trade agreements with ASEAN and the first one to upgrade those agreements with the bloc. China is also the first country that proposed talks with ASEAN on the Treaty on Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

"China plays a positive role in supporting the regional integration of ASEAN," Ruan asserted. According to him, China takes the lead in developing relations with ASEAN, which drives other countries in East Asia to join the multilateral cooperation and further enhance the ASEAN's role in regional affairs.

Apart from the ACFTA, China has been working with Asian partners to promote the Belt and Road Initiative that aims at bringing greater connectivity and opportunities to the region; and all ASEAN countries have applied for founding membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Furthermore, Premier Li announced at the meeting that China will render economic assistance of 3.6 billion yuan ($563.8 million), gratis, for the undeveloped countries of ASEAN in 2016. Moreover, China will provide a loan of $10 billion for carrying out China-ASEAN cooperation on infrastructural construction.

According to Ruan, Asia is faced with a bottleneck in that infrastructure conditions in many regional countries can't meet the strong demand of economic development. That is why China's initiatives on promoting infrastructural construction through bilateral and multilateral cooperation are welcomed by Asian countries, he explained.

China-ASEAN cooperation in all its forms is providing benefits to both sides, Song said. He specifically noted the Belt and Road Initiative and the AIIB, which will provide regional cooperation with new opportunities. Song said that ASEAN countries hope these initiatives can support their development.

Accelerating talks  

The regional meetings also helped to advance the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), proposed by ASEAN, which is moving forward rapidly. The RCEP involves the 10 ASEAN member states and the six countries--Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea--which have established bilateral free trade agreements with ASEAN. Premier Li and other leaders made a pledge at the summit to complete talks on RCEP by the end of 2016, building a free trade area with the largest population and most diverse cultures in the world.

Ruan believes that the possibility of completing talks on the RCEP in next year is huge. In 2013, the ASEAN and the six countries had kicked off negotiation on RCEP. They have finished 10 rounds of talks, achieving substantial progress on many issues, he said.

The ongoing talks of RCEP show that regional integration in East Asia is making progress on different levels and in various aspects, Ruan said. The ASEAN Community is a sub-regional integration outcome, and the RCEP covers more countries including developing and developed economies.

Undoubtedly, China, Japan and South Korea should be three major countries for advancing RCEP talks. However, the talks of a free trade agreement (FTA) among the three countries had been suspended due to political tensions between China and Japan, as well as between South Korea and Japan.

In early November, the leaders' meeting of China, Japan and South Korea resumed after a three-year hiatus. The parties then agreed to continue talks on building a trilateral FTA.

"The resumption of China-Japan-South Korea leaders' meeting will promote their cooperation on RCEP talks," said Jiang Ruiping, Vice President of China Foreign Affairs University.

A ripple of tension  

The Asian Summit held in Malaysia included 10 ASEAN countries and eight other countries including the United States and Russia. The Asian Summit serves two functions: to serve as a forum for leaders to discuss practical cooperation on development strategies and projects; and to create a dialogue for leaders to exchange opinions.

For economic cooperation, Premier Li called all relevant countries to cultivate East Asia as a region with stable growth. But the November summit also came at a time of highly publicized political and security issues in the region, as Ruan noted.

"Of course China does not shy away from political and security issues, but there is a condition, the discussion should not refer to specific bilateral disputes," Ruan said.

Some leaders talked about the disputes in the South China Sea at the summit and again expressed their concerns over free navigation on the waters of the sea. "But the issue of the South China Sea is not a conflict between China and ASEAN. And most ASEAN countries would not like to be attached to the issue at the multilateral forum nor spoil cooperation with China," Song analyzed.

At the summit Premier Li raised a five-pronged proposal to uphold and promote peace and stability in the South China Sea and urged outside countries to refrain from taking actions that may cause tension in the region.

However, "some major countries outside the region exercise their so-called freedom of navigation by sending airplanes and warships while strengthening military cooperation with other countries in the region," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said at a press briefing on November 22 on the sidelines of the summit.

In a presidential statement issued by the 27th ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN leaders said that they supported to settle the South China Sea disputes peacefully in accordance with the international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Copyedited by Mara Lee Durrell

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