All the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced their recognition of China's full market economy status on Saturday. Only three of the 10 had previously done so.
The announcement was made shortly after the third consultation between the ASEAN economic ministers and China's Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai.
"Each of the 10 member countries of ASEAN recognizes the full market economy status of China," Indonesian Industry and Trade Minister Rini Soewandi, who co-chaired the meeting with Bo, said at a press conference.
Bo thanked the ASEAN ministers for the recognition and said that China will work to increase trade with ASEAN. He noted that the region is one of the country's most important trading partners and said that the outlook for growth is promising.
"For the time being, two-way trade between ASEAN nations and China accounts for 11 percent of China's overall external trade. But I believe this proportion will greatly increase in the upcoming years and probably double," Bo said.
He pointed out that in 2003 and in the first half of 2004, trade between China and ASEAN grew 40 percent year on year.
ASEAN's exports to China reached US$47.3 billion in 2003 and imports hit US$30.9 billion, climbing 51.7 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively, from the previous year.
In the first seven months of this year, ASEAN's exports to China jumped 40.7 percent, to US$34.5 billion, while imports grew 34.1 percent, to US$22.2 billion.
"So I'm quite confident that after we have concluded agreements in terms of both trade in goods and trade in services, this growth rate will be even greater," said Bo.
He said that China would push ahead on bilateral trade and investment negotiations with ASEAN nations.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Three of ten member countries -- Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand -- individually announced their recognition of China's full market status earlier this year.
(China Daily September 6, 2004)
