2016年CRI China-ASEAN cooperation will benefit Thailand as well as surrounding nations: Thai expert

 

Chinese Premier¹ Li Keqiang is heading China's delegation² to this year's China-ASEAN and ASEAN+3 sessions in Vientiane.

This year's sessions come amid tensions in the South China Sea, as well as political changes within a few of the ASEAN countries.

Kitti Prasirtsuk, Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies of Thammasat University in Thailand, says he believes this year's meetings in Laos are an opportunity for China and ASEAN to find more common ground, particularly in trade and investment.

"The summits will enhance bilateral³ exchanges between China and ASEAN, especially at a time when China has proposed its important 'One Belt and One Road Initiative'. China also contributes a lot to the establishment of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism⁴. I think the potentials for regional cooperation are huge in many aspects."

China is currently ASEAN's largest trading partner, while ASEAN, as a group, is China's 3rd largest, behind the EU and the United States.

The annual China-ASEAN sessions are designed to try to allow the 10 countries which make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to speak with a collective voice to China.

But Kitti Prasirtsuk says ASEAN leaders, including from his home country of Thailand, are also hoping to promote their own individual agendas.

"Thailand has been taking great efforts to attract industrial investment, and also aim to become a production center of ASEAN and form a complete production and marketing⁵ network. The country is also implementing⁶ the strategic plan of 'Thailand 4.0' to upgrade its economy and improve its industrial development level. All those projects require exchanges with China to broaden the cooperation channel for a win-win result which could also benefit surrounding countries."

Official stats show that around 4.9 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand through the first half of this year, accounting⁷ for nearly 30 percent of all tourist traffic into the country.

Thai officials say they hope to have 10-million Chinese tourists visit Thailand before the year is out.

Beyond economics, Kitti Prasirtsuk says this week's sessions in Laos also provide an opportunity for both China and ASEAN to create more social ties.

"In terms of education, though there are a huge amount of Chinese students studying in Thailand, I believe the room for further cooperation is still large. One thing I urge more attention is that the exchange level should not be only confined to students, but also teachers from both countries. I suggest that the cooperation between both teachers will help them learn from each other's different educational perspective and deepen their acknowledge on each other."

The China-ASEAN, as well as the ASEAN+3 meetings, which include China, Japan and South Korea, are taking place this Wednesday and Thursday in Vientiane.

A number of other countries, including Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand are also attending this week's meetings.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

1 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

2 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

4 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

7 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。