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By Qin Yaqing

In November 2004, at the eighth summit between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Premier Wen Jiabao proposed that an ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group (EPG) be set up to take stock of the co-operation and recommend measures for strengthening future China-ASEAN relations.

Premier Wen's initiative was welcomed unanimously by the leaders of ASEAN's member countries. The ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group (EPG) was officially launched in April 2005. China's Eminent Person was former Vice-Premier Qian Qichen.

When ASEAN was founded in 1967, antagonism and suspicion marked its dealings with China, owing to complex historical factors. But in July 1991, then-Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen attended the opening session of the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Malaysia and had informal meetings with ASEAN foreign ministers, which marked the beginning of China-ASEAN relations.

From then on, China-ASEAN relations have moved forward by leaps and bounds. In 2003, China joined the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation in Southeast Asia and cemented its strategic partnership with ASEAN.

Qian was involved in the establishment and development of China-ASEAN relations since the very beginning. The fact that he was chosen as China's Eminent Person well illustrates how important the Eminent Persons Group was.

The ASEAN side also attached great importance to the EPG, naming personnel who carried much importance politically or diplomatically as their Eminent Persons, including former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Musa Hitam, former Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam, former Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prince Kasem S. Kasemsri, and so on. The co-chairs of the group were Qian Qichen from China and Tan Sri Musa Hitam from Malaysia. As Qian's assistant, I participated in the work of the group.

The task of the group was to draft the Report of the ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group and submit it to the Ninth ASEAN-China Summit.

The group decided that its first meeting would be convened in China. The agenda was to set up the framework and primary content of the report. The Chinese side, in particular, organized a team of specialists and scholars to do the preparatory work on the drafting.

ASEAN also sent senior officials to participate in the preparatory meetings and offer their help. Both the Chinese and ASEAN sides put forward their suggestions about the report's framework and content. The ASEAN Secretariat also prepared a detailed document for reference, which took stock of China-ASEAN relations and evaluated the progress of the functional co-operative fields.

At the meeting, Qian Qichen offered his suggestions on the report's framework: First, a retrospective look at the development of China-ASEAN ties in order to sum up the experience accumulated in the process that China and ASEAN became strategic partners from antagonist neighbors. Second, an analysis of the status quo of the China-ASEAN co-operation, so that tasks ahead may be clearly defined and problems be spotted. Third, policy suggestions on further pushing ahead the bilateral co-operation should be offered in order to further advance the bilateral relations in the future.

He particularly underscored the importance of the experience on the fast and healthy development of China-ASEAN ties: Recognizing equality and showing mutual trust, seeking common grounds while reserving the differences, securing mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, establishing appropriate mechanisms for co-operation. The Eminent Persons responded warmly to Qian's speech and agreed fully that a report framework be drafted with Qian's suggestions.

Also at the meeting, the participants discussed the contents of the report. The meeting formally decided upon three basic parts for the report: A stock-taking of the 15-year-old China-ASEAN relations, the state of bilateral co-operation and existing problems, and suggestions on policy.

The meeting also decided that the second meeting of the ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group be convened in Indonesia in October 2005, to put the finishing touches on the report.

The Eminent Persons decided to task their assistants with convening a meeting on September 22 and 23 in Jakarta, to discuss the particular content of the draft.

Before we left for Jakarta, Qian instructed us that the draft report should be based on a friendly and positive key tone, foreseeing a strategic vantage point while respecting the view of the ASEAN side.

Together with the assistant of Malaysia's Eminent Person, I co-chaired the meeting. We, the assistants, weighed the report's content and wording carefully by negotiating on several revision formats.

On October 12, 2005, the second meeting of the ASEAN-China EPG opened in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur as scheduled, and the formal report was finalized.

The final report first takes stock of the three phases of the China-ASEAN relationship development over the last 15 years: moving towards a comprehensive dialogue framework (1991-96); towards good-neighborliness and mutual trust (1997-2002); establishing strategic partnership (2003-05).

The report continues to state that equality, mutual trust, co-operation and win-win outcomes for both are valuable experience for advancing relations. The report goes on to say that the progress of China-ASEAN relations should continue to be based on the principles of the United Nations Charter, the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation in Southeast Asia, the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and the Ten Principles of the Bandung Asian-African Conference.

Also, the guiding principles, such as reaching consensus via negotiations, moving at a pace that is comfortable to all sides and non-interference, win-win outcomes via co-operation, and adopting an open and inclusive approach are reaffirmed by the report.

The report also puts forward 38 measures for enhancing the China-ASEAN strategic relationship in the coming 15 years, involving political and security, trade, economy and finance, social and cultural affairs and the institutional framework.

More specifically, the suggestions cover strengthening of political mutual trust and security co-operation, convening of a China-ASEAN commemorative summit, accelerating the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area negotiations, establishment of a China-ASEAN Centre in Beijing, launching the China-ASEAN Foundation and scholarship projects, and promoting people-to-people exchanges.

In an all-around way, the report takes stock of the development of China-ASEAN relations, systematically sums up the valuable experiences accumulated over the last 15 years, presents a clear picture of the status quo in bilateral relations, points out the existing problems, and puts forward policy suggestions. Because of all this, the report is of guiding significance for long-term co-operation between China and ASEAN. In December 2005, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, in the capacity of the co-chair of the ASEAN-China EPG, submitted the report to the China-ASEAN Summit.

At the Ninth ASEAN-China Summit Meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao thus evaluated the report: "After almost a year's hard work, the China-ASEAN Eminent Persons Group has presented us with a comprehensive report which offers good suggestions for enhancing China-ASEAN relations. We should study and adopt these suggestions in conjunction with the China-ASEAN Plan of Action."

The author is vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University.

(China Daily October 26, 2006)