China Ratifies Joining of Southeast Asia Amity Treaty

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, June 28, 2003

China Ratifies Joining of Southeast Asia Amity Treaty

China's top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), ratified the State Council's motion of joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation In Southeast Asia and its two amending protocols Saturday.

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China's top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), passed unanimously the State Council's motion of joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and its two amending protocols Saturday.

The approval will make China the first to join the treaty among all the big countries outside the Southeast Asia and it will also further the good cooperative relation between China and the ASEAN countries, lawmakers said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in the State Council's motion that the treaty and its two amending protocols do not contradict with China's laws and China's entering will help boost the full development of China-ASEAN relations.

The Treaty was signed by the then members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bali of Indonesia on Feb. 24, 1976. To further enhance cooperation with all peace-loving nations, the ASEAN amended the treaty twice respectively in 1987 and 1998, making the treaty open to countries outside the Southeast Asia.

The Treaty says its purpose is to promote perpetual peace, everlasting amity and cooperation among their peoples, which would contribute to their strength, solidarity and closer relationship.

It says the contracting parties shall deal with their relations with one another by the following fundamental principles:

-- Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations;

-- The right of every state to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion;

-- Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;

-- Settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful means;

-- Renunciation of the threat or use of force;

-- Effective cooperation among themselves.

The Treaty requests the contracting parties to settle disputes among themselves through friendly negotiations.

"To settle disputes through regional processes, the High Contracting Parties shall constitute, as a continuing body, a HighCouncil comprising a Representative at ministerial level from each of the High Contracting Parties to take cognizance of the existence of disputes or situations likely to disturb regional peace and harmony," said the Treaty.

"In the event no solution is reached through direct negotiations, the High Council shall take cognizance of the dispute or the situation and shall recommend to parties in dispute appropriate means of settlement such as good offices, mediation, inquiry or conciliation," the Treaty said.

It also says each contracting party shall not in any manner of form participate in any activity, which shall constitute a threat to the political and economic stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of another contracting party.

Each contracting party shall strive to achieve the closest cooperation on the widest scale and shall seek to provide assistance to one another in the form of training and research facilities in social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields, the Treaty says.

So far those who have joined the Treaty include the Government of Brunei Darussalam, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, the Government of theLao People's Democratic Republic, the Government of Malaysia, the Government of the Union of Myanmar, the Government of the Republic of Philippines, the Government of the Republic of Singapore, the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Government of Papua New Guinea.

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