ASEAN-China Relations: Realities and Prospects

3. China's Peaceful Development and Relations with its East Asian Neighbours

China’s Peaceful Development and Relations with its East Asian Neighbours 27 3 China’s Peaceful Development and Relations with its East Asian Neighbours Cai Bingkui CHINA’S PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT China adheres to the road of peaceful development. It will take full advantage of the good opportunity that world peace affords to develop and strengthen itself, and at the same time safeguard world peace with its development. China’s development will be mainly based on its own strength and selfreliance , the vast domestic market, rich human resources, abundant accumulation of capital as well as the systematic innovation triggered by reform. China’s development could not be achieved without the rest of the world. China adheres to its opening-up policy and develops economic and trade exchanges with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit so as to realize common prosperity. China’s development will require a very long time. Though China’s GDP already ranks sixth and its total import and export trade volume ranks fourth in the world, China’s per capita GDP is only a little over US$1,000, ranking behind the hundredth in the world. It requires long-term and unremitting efforts of probably several generations for China to realize its goal to rise. 03 ASEAN-China Relations Ch 3 5/8/05, 9:00 AM 27 28 Cai Bingkui China’s rise will definitely bring positive impact on the peace, stability and development of Asia and the world. It will not create obstacles or threats to anybody. China unswervingly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence and advocates a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination. It does not seek hegemony now, nor will it seek hegemony even after it becomes powerful in the future. CHINA’S POLICY OF GOOD-NEIGHBOURLINESS AND FRIENDSHIP China’s development requires a sound peripheral environment. China persists in building a good neighbourly relationship and partnership with its neighbours. It has formulated a basic framework of developing relations with its neighbouring countries in the new century by the establishment of various types of partnership. The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to confidence-building measures with neighbouring countries and has worked hard for their adoption. It has energetically advocated the conclusion of border treaties or agreements through talks and consultations with the parties concerned, so as to safeguard equal security for all parties, and for regional peace and stability. The relevant government departments and frontier forces of China have faithfully implemented the stipulations of the treaties and agreements, and actively promoted exchanges and cooperation with their counterparts in the neighbouring countries. They have dealt with boundary affairs in a timely manner and cracked down on illegal activities in the border areas together with their counterparts through communication and consultation mechanisms, and frontier talks and meetings. It is a component part of China’s policy of good-neighbourliness and friendship to conduct multilateral dialogue and cooperation with Asian countries. China is extensively involved in the various mechanisms of Asia-based regional cooperation, makes its efforts to promote regional economic integration and conducts security dialogue in various forms. It has worked hard to boost the formation and development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). It has taken an active part in the activities of “Boao Forum for Asia” and the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) foreign ministers’ informal meeting. It has supported and participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Council on Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region (CSCAP) and other activities for multilateral security dialogue and cooperation. During the recent year 03 ASEAN-China Relations Ch 3 5/8/05, 9:00 AM 28 China’s Peaceful Development and Relations with its East Asian Neighbours 29 China has made its important contributions to the successful tripartite and Six-Party Talks on the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula. CHINA’S RELATIONS WITH ITS EAST ASIAN NEIGHBOURS Since it came into being, ASEAN-China “Ten+1” cooperation mechanism has developed rapidly. In the political and security field, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and Joint Declaration on Cooperation in the Non-traditional Fields were successively signed. With China’s formal accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2003, the political and legal...