NVDB005_-_CH_3.006._ASEAN-China_Special_Summit_-_Yang_Yue-3

Diplomatic Briefing — KAS Cambodia and CICP

40 — DP Vol. 05

ASEAN-China Special Summit

Deliver Substance under the CSP

Concrete actions need to be taken to materialize the initiatives laid out in President Xi’s speech at the 2021 ASEAN-China Special Summit. China, for the first time, officially endorsed the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pa- cific at this sumit and declared a desire for synergy between the BRI and AOIP. 3 What comes next is for both sides to map out an action plan to link the two strategies and make them deliver on their commit- ments. 2021 witnessed milestone achievements in the joint construction of Belt and Road projects. The China-Laos Railway began operation. A new freight train service linking central China’s Hunan Province and ASEAN was also launched, allowing China-Europe rail freight to reach Vietnam. Another milestone was surpassed in early 2022 during the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway. A continuous cross-highway box girder with the largest span was erected, a highly complex part of the headline BRI project.

On top of that, the synergy between the China-pro- posed Global Development Initiative 4 and ASEAN Community Vision 2025 should be placed high on

3 “For a Shared Future and Our Common Home,”Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China at the Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations, November 22, 2021, http://bn.mofcom.gov. cn/article/chinanews/202111/20211103219692.shtml.

4 “Xi Proposes Global Development Initiative,”China Daily, September 22, 2021, https://www.chinadaily.com. cn/a/202109/22/WS614a3c0da310cdd39bc6a868.html.

the ASEAN-China cooperation agenda. It is especially urgent and necessary given the adversary impact of the pandemic on the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The current US-led stringent and comprehensive sanctions against Russia will further worsen the situation by undermining the fruits of economic recovery. Given the setbacks hampering regional development and the already vulnerable state of the regional and world economy, the China-proposed Global Development Initiative, stressing eight priority areas, including poverty allevi- ation, food security, COVID-19 and vaccines, financing for development, climate change and green devel- opment, industrialization, digital economy, and connectivity, could contribute to the rekindling of regional development. This would thereby help to achieve all 17 of the SDGs in the 2030 Agenda.

Inclusive cooperation and the maintenance of a peaceful environment are prerequisites for both sides to jointly building the CSP. The region has been benefiting from inclusive cooperation and a long period of peace. This needs to be cherished now more dearly than ever in today’s fluid global environment.