中文
A view outside the venue of the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, October 26, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
By Rabi Sankar Bosu
The 38th and 39th summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related high-level meetings, held via virtual conference October 26-28 under the chairmanship of Brunei Darussalam, have emphasized that efforts must be made to expand and strength ties and close dialogue and cooperation between ASEAN and China so that the region and the whole world can recover from COVID-19 and enjoy sustainable development.
It's really encouraging to hear that at the summits' related meetings, ASEAN leaders warmly welcomed the steadily improving cooperation between ASEAN and China while acknowledging China's continued contributions to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund.
Needless to say, the Brunei ASEAN leaders' meetings hold a high degree of significance in the contemporary context of geo-political domination.
First, U.S. President Joe Biden revived his East Asian diplomacy by virtually attending the ASEAN summit in order to bolster the U.S. relationship with ASEAN with the help of the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alignment and the trilateral AUKUS alliance in order to contain China's economic rise and growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Secondly, most importantly, the annual gathering was an occasion for ASEAN countries and their partners to deepen their cooperation and to express their solidarity in the fight against COVID-19, since the region and the world are still struggling with the pandemic.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's attendance at the 24th China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders' meeting, the 24th ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (10+3) leaders' meeting and the 16th East Asia Summit was made via videoconference at the invitation of Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
The 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits held online in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, October 26, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]
It is worth noting that after establishing dialogue relations with ASEAN in 1991, China became the first dialogue partner to have a strategic partnership with ASEAN on October 8, 2003. China's relationship with ASEAN is just like pomegranate seeds that stick together. Over the past 30 years, China and ASEAN have grown and prospered together through ebbs and flows, through win-win cooperation.
In the recent past, China and ASEAN have created a new cooperation framework by strengthening synergy between the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity." It should be noted that in January this year, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a six-day southeast Asia visit to Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines where both sides reached a consensus on stronger cooperation in a range of areas including COVID-19 vaccines, economic recovery and regional stability.
Quite expectedly, anti-pandemic cooperation became the main focal point in Li Keqiang's speeches at the summits. "We need to enhance anti-COVID policy communication and coordination. China stands ready to further increase assistance in vaccines and anti-COVID supplies for ASEAN countries and jointly enhance capacity for early warning and emergency response," he said.
Being an active, proactive and responsible contributor to the ASEAN Community building process, the Chinese premier in his speech proposed establishing a China-ASEAN Public Health Research and Development Collaborating Center to empower public health cooperation with science and technology. ASEAN leaders appreciated China's vaccine and material assistance in the fight against the COVID-19.
The release of a China-ASEAN Joint Statement on Cooperation in Support of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and a China-ASEAN Joint Statement on Enhancing Green and Sustainable Development Cooperation at the end of the meeting attests to the fact that ASEAN leaders have wholeheartedly supported China in their economic space in the post-COVID era.
It should be noted here that as a true neighborhood friend, China, the first major victim of COVID-19 , has shown its healing touch in southeast Asian countries' fight against COVID-19, which deserves much praise.
Since COVID-19 has resulted in a public health, economic and political disaster across the world, China as a responsible country has come forward with medical assistance to over 130 countries and international organizations to fight the common threat with an aim of building a global community of health for all.
According to Chinese ambassador to ASEAN, Deng Xijun, China has provided all ASEAN member states with over 300 million COVID-19 vaccines and a great number of emergency medical supplies. China has also sent medical expert teams to help build virus-testing labs and worked on vaccine trials with several ASEAN member states. China's support and medical aid to ASEAN countries and other parts of the world to combat COVID-19 have truly upheld the spirit of "Love thy neighbor."
While the U.S. and its European allies are deliberately trying to divide ASEAN and the rest of the world with a "vaccine diplomacy" campaign, China has been donating vaccines to ASEAN countries and other developing countries without political attachment as compared with the United States.
As such, Biden's announcement of providing over $100 million to ASEAN for combating COVID-19 and tackling climate change is a tricky part of his containment strategy against China in the region. But it is prejudiced thinking for the Biden administration that southeast Asian countries will dance according to the will of the U.S. by damaging their long-standing ties with China, which has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for the past 12 years in a row.
During the summits, the joint statements of ASEAN leaders highly appreciated China's provision of vaccines to ASEAN countries in response to their needs and expressed their support for China's economic rise and growing influence in the region. China has also pledged greater vaccine cooperation with ASEAN member states.
This was clearly reflected in Li Keqiang's speech: "We need to expedite the building of the APT Reserve of Medical Supplies for Public Health Emergencies, and China is ready to provide 20 million yuan ($3.1 million) of support for the Reserve. China is building an information system platform for global COVID-19 data integration and risk analysis and a system of APT tabletop exercise for public health emergencies to help bolster regional capacity for epidemic response.”
Right after the COVID-19 outbreak in late December 2019, China, ASEAN countries, Japan and South Korea helped and supported each other in their fight against COVID-19 and kept the regional industrial and supply chains stable. The adoption of the APT Leaders' Statement on Cooperation on Mental Health Among Adolescents and Young Children at these summits has exhibited cooperation between China and East Asian countries in the realm of public health governance.
To conclude, it can be said that the Brunei ASEAN meetings and a number of sub-regional summits between China and ASEAN have laid a solid foundation for a fruitful meeting between President Xi Jinping and ASEAN leaders to be held in November this year. Surely, this special online meeting will further consolidate their ties in anti-pandemic cooperation at different levels.
The author is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets.
