CHINESE Premier Li Qiang called for deeper market integration with South-East Asia during annual summit talks where territorial disputes in the South China Sea are likely to be high on the agenda.
The 10-member Asean meeting with Li followed recent violent confrontations at sea between China and Asean members the Philippines and Vietnam that raised unease over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters.
Li didn’t mention the row in his opening speech at the summit talks yesterday, but said intensifying trade relations between Beijing and Asean – a market of 672 million people – was beneficial for the bloc.
“The global economy is still seeing a sluggish recovery, protectionism is rising and geopolitical turbulence has brought instability and uncertainty to our development,” Li said.
“An ultra large-scale market is our greatest foundation for promoting economic prosperity. Strengthening market coordination and synchronisation is an important direction for our further cooperation,” he said.
Asean and China said they made progress in negotiations to upgrade their free trade pact and expect to conclude the talks by next year. Officials said the expanded pact will cover supply chain connectivity, the digital economy and green economy.
Since the two sides signed the free trade pact in 2010, Asean’s trade with China has leaped from US$235.5bil to US$696.7bil last year.
China is Asean’s No.1 trading partner and its third-largest source of foreign investment – a key reason why the bloc has been muted in its criticisms of Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
Asean leaders have repeatedly called only for restraint and respect for international law.
Asean members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei along with Taiwan have overlapping claims with China, which claims sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea and has become more aggressive in its attempts to enforce its claims.
Asean members and China have been negotiating a code of conduct to govern behaviour in the strategic waterway for years but progress has been slow. Sticky issues include disagreements over whether the pact should be binding.Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and Vietnam said last week that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in a disputed area of the sea. Beijing has said it was defending its offshore territories.
China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as exclusive economic zones.
The Philippines, a longtime U.S. ally, has been critical of other Asean countries for not doing more to get China to back away.
The United States has no claims in the South China Sea but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets to patrol the waterway and promote freedom of navigation and overflight. China has warned the United States not to meddle in the disputes.
But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Vientiane yesterday for the meetings, was expected to raise the issue, officials said. — AP
