China‘ active role in Asia-Pacific cooperation
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail
Xinhua, January 10, 2012
China is playing an active role in multilateral cooperation among the Asia-Pacific region and the world. As friendly neighbors, Vietnam and China should constantly strengthen mutual trust and further develop mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, a senior economist said.
Over the years, Asia-Pacific regional economic integration and various cooperation mechanisms have made remarkable achievements. The Asia-Pacific countries, including Vietnam and China, should work together through more effective cooperation to achieve regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Bui Kien Thanh, a senior economist in Vietnam and Chairman of Bukita Capital Management Company, told Xinhua in a recent interview in Hanoi.
"Asia-Pacific region has more than 2/3 of the world's population. If we can develop good cooperation within the region, we can develop cooperation around the world. However, only with peace and stability can we achieve common prosperity through cooperation," Thanh said.
Commenting on the economic development of China and its impact on the neighboring countries including Vietnam, the economist said since the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was implemented, trade between China and ASEAN has grown very fast, and benefited the whole ASEAN region.
For Vietnam's concern, trade between China and Vietnam has increased almost 12 folds since 2000 to billions of U.S. dollars for both sides. China has become Vietnam's largest trade partner for years. The two-way trade volume reached 30 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, he said.
"But there's always a trade deficit for Vietnam," the economist said, "so we need to do something to find out what China can buy from Vietnam, and why the Vietnamese exporters have not learned to sell more to China. I think the Vietnamese exporters should do a better job in exploring the Chinese market, including organizing to sell to China rather than waiting for the Chinese buyers to come. And also more Chinese companies should come here to set up factories to process Vietnamese products, so that they can export finish products from Vietnam. In this regard, the China-Vietnam Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation should play a more active role in promoting trade between the two countries."
Referring to the positive effects of China's participation in multilateral cooperation mechanisms, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Cooperation, Thanh said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a very good initiative to build relationship between the nations in the region for developing bilateral and multilateral relations, promoting regional economic development and maintaining peace and stability, especially after countries like India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan being observers.
However, the economist said Vietnam has not yet been very positively involved in the GMS Cooperation. "The GMS Cooperation has contributed a great deal to the northern countries in the region, such as Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Vietnam, as in the southern Mekong region, should sit together with China to study the impacts of this cooperation in the future. Both sides need to boost cooperation on water distribution and management, including fish farming, agriculture and electric power," he suggested.
Thanh said of all the countries in the region, Vietnam is the closest to China, both in geography and in culture. The cooperation between Vietnam and China has great potential in many areas, not only in economy, but also among the people. "For instance, although Chinese tourists top the foreign visitors in Vietnam, the number is far from enough. I think the Vietnamese government should make more efforts to attract Chinese tourists," he said.
To maintain close cooperation, both sides need to further increase mutual trust under the guidance of "16-word motto" and "four-good spirit", constantly consolidate and develop the traditional friendly relations between the two countries, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation, in the current context of complicated international political and economic situation, he added.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)