China-ASEAN Free Trade Deal Set to Boost East Asian Integration

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 27, 2003

China-ASEAN Free Trade Deal Set to Boost East Asian Integration

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Senior officials and academics at the just-ended China-ASEAN Free Trade Area high-level forum said the proposed free trade deal will further boost economic integration in East Asia and stimulate the Asian or even global economy.

"Setting up the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area will promote common prosperity in the region," said ASEAN chief negotiator Kanissorn Navanugraha, at the forum held in Guilin, in south China's Autonomous Region of Guangxi.

The trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expanded rapidly in 2002, with bilateral trade generating 54.8 billion US dollars, a 31 percent increase year-on-year, according to China's customs.

Its figures also show that ASEAN enjoyed a surplus of 7.6 billion US dollars in 2002 when exports from ASEAN to China reached 31.2 billion US dollars.

"The emerging economy in China is now creating a new impetus mechanism for regional economic integration and growth," said Zhang Yunling, director of the Asia Pacific Institute with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhang said a new economic links were taking shape as China and ASEAN saw sustained expansion in economic cooperation and investment during recent years, despite the current global recession.

The proposed free trade area will accelerate economic restructuring on both sides and create a win-win opportunity, and through the division of labor will be able to face increasingly acute international trade competition, says Professor Liao Shaolian, deputy director of the Southeast Asia Research Center at Xiamen University, in southeast China's Fujian Province.

ASEAN, China's fifth trading partner for 10 consecutive years, consists of 10 member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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