China, ASEAN Envision New Prospects for Cooperation under Belt and Road Initiative
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China Railway Corporation and four Indonesian firms have agreed to set up a joint venture to build a high-speed railway linking Jakarta and Bandung. The project is expected to start this month and take three years to complete.

On Nov. 13, the Chinese and Laotian governments signed an agreement on the construction of a cross-border railway. The railroad will stretch 418 km to link the two countries' border area, Mohan and Boten ports, and Lao's capital Vientiane.

In late 2014, China and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding on railway cooperation, under which dual-track rail lines will be built to connect Thailand's northeast Nong Khai province, the capital of Bangkok and the eastern Rayong province. The railway will also be a section of the planned railway running through southern China, Laos and Thailand.

Furthermore, on Nov. 12, senior foreign affairs officials from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam agreed on the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) framework at the first LMC foreign ministers' meeting in Jinghong, southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The sub-region cooperation mechanism has been complementary to other cooperation mechanisms, promoted ASEAN community construction and regional integration, as well as added new content into the China-ASEAN cooperation, Xu said.

GREAT POTENTIALS FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT

2016 marks the first year in China's 13th five-year plan and the first after the establishment of the ASEAN community.

"With China-ASEAN cooperation enjoying great momentum, a series of favorable factors will provide new opportunities for the development of bilateral ties," said Jiang Ruiping, vice president of China Foreign Affairs University.

Jiang said China's 13th five-year plan and the Belt and Road Initiative will open a broad space for the pragmatic cooperation between China and ASEAN.

Taking the establishment of the ASEAN community as an opportunity, the two sides will enhance the docking of their development strategies, continue to promote bilateral economic and trade ties, increase mutual investments so as to realize common development, said Xu Bu, the Chinese ambassador to ASEAN.

Xu suggested that to further promote pragmatic cooperation between the two sides on the Belt and Road Initiative, China and ASEAN should focus on five areas, namely policy communication, road connectivity, trade facilitation, currency circulation and mutual understanding between the peoples.

However, the complicated international situation and weak recovery of the world economy in the past year has imposed pressures on the economic growth of China and ASEAN countries, Xu said.

"Deepening economic and trade ties as well as enhancing production capacity and financial cooperation to cultivate new growth points is the common wish of both parties," the ambassador said.

"China and ASEAN countries have the wisdom and capacity to deal with some controversial issues, and have the confidence and willingness to promote all-round cooperation, which is in our common interests and conducive to regional peace, stability and development," he said.

 

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