Upgrading the partnership

Win-win cooperation and good-neighborliness form firm foundation for ever-deepening China-ASEAN relations

On Thursday, the Special China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of the formation of the strategic partnership between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was held in Beijing. During the meeting, which aimed to summarize the achievements of the 10 years of cooperation between the two sides and plan for the future development of relations, China and ASEAN member states agreed to consolidate and deepen their strategic partnership. China-ASEAN cooperation can scale new heights in the future by seizing any new opportunities that appear.

Since the beginning of the China-ASEAN dialogue process in 1991, bilateral cooperation in various areas has witnessed great achievements and steady deepening. China is the first ASEAN dialogue partner to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the first to establish a strategic partnership with ASEAN, and the first to confirm it will establish a free trade area with ASEAN. This has formed an important political and economic base for the development of bilateral relations. In 2002, China and ASEAN countries signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which demonstrated their shared resolve to promote maritime dialogue and cooperation and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea.