China, ASEAN partners in prosperity

The partnership between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a remarkable story of positive engagement that transcended ideological barriers toward the end of the Cold War. What began as a dialogue partnership in 1991 evolved into full dialogue status by 1996, eventually blossoming into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021.

This enduring bond is rooted in pragmatic diplomacy. The initial momentum came in 1991 when the then Chinese foreign minister attended the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur at the invitation of the Malaysian host. The subsequent forging of diplomatic ties between China and the five ASEAN founding member states — namely Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore — paved the way for deeper engagement. China became the first external dialogue partner to formally accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2003, firmly anchoring its relations in the principles of mutual respect and noninterference.

As China and Southeast Asia commemorate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, their ties face a nuanced matrix of both unprecedented opportunities and structural risks confronting a combined population of over two billion people.

On the one hand, the newly upgraded China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, or CAFTA 3.0, is poised to herald a transformative era of economic cooperation, opening new horizons in the digital economy and green transformation across the region.

On the other hand, even though the sweeping tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump have been ruled unconstitutional, the controversial Agreements on Reciprocal Trade that Washington has pushed through with some ASEAN member states such as Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia remain a proverbial sword of Damocles.

The exclusionary elements in the ART are designed to curtail the sovereign liberty of signatory countries in fostering economic collaboration with third parties. These restrictive clauses are an egregious affront to the economic sovereignty of ASEAN members. Till Washington offers clarity on the validity and scope of the ART, unpredictability will prevail over the region’s trade architecture.

The pain of being arm-twisted remains etched in the memory of ASEAN countries. Cowed by specific provisions that unmistakably target China, their latitude to uphold their strategic autonomy is being suppressed. ASEAN members are wary because maintaining access to the US market and sustaining the influx of Western investments are critical for them. They fear that economic partnership with Beijing might be seen as detrimental to Washington’s interests through the latter’s zero-sum geopolitical lenses. It could lead to a sudden, unilateral termination of the ART, exposing their economies to punitive tariffs.

In contrast to this coercive framework, the CAFTA 3.0 offers a strategic advantage that can turbocharge the regional bloc’s pursuit of the digital economy and green transition. This momentum is amplified by the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement, the world’s first region-wide, legally binding digital economy governance pact. This regional digital ecosystem could unlock an estimated market potential of $2 trillion by 2030.

Given that China has long harbored the ambition of having Chinese digital infrastructure — such as cross-border fiber-optic networks, data centers, cloud services, smart city platforms, logistics technologies and digital payment systems that shape consumer behavior — deeply embedded in the region, the China-ASEAN partnership will scale greater heights if its organic growth is unimpeded by external geopolitical disruptions.

The young and tech-savvy population of ASEAN provides a fast-growing market for more Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms. Concurrently, digital customs and trade facilitation would enhance the operational efficiency and long-term competitiveness of regional economic integration. The convenience of fintech and QR-based payment interoperability is no longer a distant dream, but a daily reality.

While frontier artificial intelligence research remains a sensitive turf between the two superpowers, ASEAN can still strategically harness its partnership with China by zeroing in on applied AI with sector-specific uses that can deliver tangible development benefits.

Targeted AI intervention in precision farming and advanced healthcare diagnostics can help meet the challenges of food insecurity and public health needs across the Global South, including ASEAN. Similarly, AI-aided urban governance, such as efficient public transport management, is no longer reserved exclusively for the developed world.

Given China’s leading edge in AI, it is an ideal technology partner for ASEAN. Beijing’s priority is not the technological competition within geopolitical rivalry. Rather it focuses sharply on how the global majority, including its ASEAN neighbors, can harness innovation to improve industrial productivity, expand opportunity and strengthen competitiveness. This embodies the aspiration to “build a community with a shared future for humanity” and transcends the “prosper-thy-neighbor” ideal in real terms.

The author is the president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific (BRICAP).

The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.