The shared commitment of China and ASEAN to build a future that is both economically resilient and environmentally sustainable was discussed at the ‘China-ASEAN Roundtable 2024’ in the capital, on Wednesday.
Prominent personalities took part in a discussion themed, ‘Driving Sustainable Development and Economic Resilience in the China-ASEAN Partnership’ held at the Cambodia University of Technology & Science (CamTech).
Speaking at the event, Tan Sri Michael Yeoh, President, KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific, said it is a great honour to be here in Cambodia for the second time to witness the China-ASEAN relations growing even stronger together.
“Today we hope that this roundtable will discuss how we can further enhance and strengthen China-ASEAN relations. ASEAN and China are long-term partners and happily shape the future together in Asia and globally,” Yeoh said.
“With the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) in place, trade between China-ASEAN and other RCEP partners will continue to strengthen and bring benefits to all of us. Today we will be able to offer suggestions on how we can grow this partnership,” he added.
Sok Siphana, Senior Minister, Royal Government of Cambodia and Chairman of the Trade Policy Advisory Board, said irrespective of ASEAN has developing countries, developed countries and least developed countries, ASEAN is a block and join hands to grow together.
“Cambodia is small country, we cannot survive on our own. We need the ASEAN’s consensus and the ASEAN’s way is what attracted Cambodia to join, so this way we have a block behind us,” Siphana said.
“Cambodia is small with around 17 million population, but when we grow with big superpowers, we grow as ASEAN and Cambodia is part of ASEAN. When we grow with China, Cambodia is a part of ASEAN. When we build ties with Donald Trump, Cambodia is part of ASEAN. So, that is the strength of the ASEAN,” he added
As the region faces economic and geopolitical pressures, leaders emphasized the importance of solidarity, infrastructure connectivity, and robust production and value chains to build resilience and ensure sustainable growth.
Chheang Vannarith, Chairman of the Advisory Council, National Assembly of Cambodia, told Khmer Times that ASEAN-China relations are strong and on the right track and have a bright future, as they have a number of areas that can be further strengthened in ASEAN-China cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, technology and innovation. This is what binds ASEAN and China closer, and this is the aspiration of the people of ASEAN and China.
“We (ASEAN-China) do whatever it takes to work together to strengthen people’s livelihoods through development and economic connectivity,” he said.
Economic resilience is a new concept in the context of Covid and post-pandemic era. As the geopolitical and economic competition lead to many irregularities, we need to strengthen solidarity, cooperation, as well as connect the infrastructure, both hard and soft, push production chain and value chain to be stronger, Vannarith explained.
“If we connect more and deepen our regional integration, this is called our resilience. The thing is we cannot live alone, we must join hands and be strong together, meaning that ASEAN-China relation must be strong enough, and that helps us to be resilient,” he said.
Amid the rising US-China competition, ASEAN and China are committed to promoting economic ties as a foundation for political stability and mutual trust. For Cambodia, the partnership underscores the nation’s interconnected destiny with ASEAN and its allies outside the region, which will pave the way for Cambodia to achieve long-term development goals for 2030 and 2050.
Vannarith expressed concern about the fierce competition between the United States and China. They inevitably have political, security, and economic pressure, but they need to find a way to move forward together. The move is the live economy because economics determines politics, he added.
“For Cambodia, we need to understand who we are. Cambodia is small and our economy is open, so on these points we need friends, and the closest friends are friends in the same region, the ASEAN countries, so like it or not, our destiny is with ASEAN,” he added.
For ASEAN to be strong, it needs to have external partners such as China, Japan, Korea and others in the region and beyond. Cambodia’s destiny is within the ASEAN, so if the relations are strengthened, the bilateral relations between Cambodia and China can be even stronger.
Source: Khmer Times
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<p>Time: 2024 By: Ministry of Industry and Trade</p>
