FOREWORD
The year 2014 marks the beginning of the second decade of China-ASEAN strategic partnership. While reaping the tangible fruits of the Golden Decade of the previous 10 years, the China-ASEAN relation is leaping into the new Diamond Decade and stands at a new historical starting point.
ASEAN-China political mutual trust has been deepened. ASEAN leaders and Chinese leaders have more frequent interaction and close exchange. The Chinese leaders have made the proposals of building the ASEAN-China Community of shared destiny, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, 2+7 Cooperation Framework. These strategic proposals and ideas have been welcomed and echoed by ASEAN countries.
ASEAN-China economic cooperation and trade has scaled new heights. In 2013, the total trade between the two sides reached a record 443.6 billion US dollars, an 11% increase on 2012. By October 2014, the bilateral trade scored 2.4 trillion RMB (about 391.83 billion US dollars), with year-on-year growth of 7.4%, and the total stock of FDI between ASEAN and China stood at 120 billion US dollars.
ASEAN-China cultural and people-to-people connectivity has become more frequent. The year 2014 is the ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year. Over 100 cultural events in various forms will be accomplished and the cultural links and friendship between our two peoples will be further cemented. There are more than 140 pairs of sister cities/provinces. Every week there are over 1,000 flights between ASEAN and China. Every year, more than 18 million people travel between the two sides. The number of exchange students has exceeded 180,000.
As an intergovernmental organization, under the unwavering support and cooperation from its Members, ACC has undertaken its responsibility to be a one-stop information and activity centre. It has also played a unique role in pushing forward ASEAN-China strategic partnership, and contributed to the process of ASEAN Community building.
In 2014, ACC has continued its efforts to promote the overall cooperation on trade, investment, education, culture and tourism between ASEAN and China. By the end of October, ACC has completed 19 approved programmes and carried out nearly 120 activities in various fields with tangible results.
— The ASEAN-China Products Trade Centre in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province has been formally set up and commodities from 8 ASEAN countries have already shown up in the Centre. The ASEAN-China Electronic Trade Centre has been under construction.
—Remarkable progress has been achieved in sectoral cooperation and programmes of joint investment has been pushing forward.
— The ASEAN-China Language and Culture Centre was inaugurated at Beijing Language and Culture University. Three platforms have been set up to facilitate cooperation between nearly 350 Chinese and ASEAN education institutes.
— Tourism documentary series "Discovery-Southeast Asia" and "Taste-Southeast Asia" have already been filmed in five ASEAN countries and shown on China Central Television (CCTV).
— ACC has helped to organize twelve China’s state-level art groups to perform in Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries.
ACC has also worked hard on carrying out programmes of public relations and providing public services. By September 2014, ACC Microblog fans have been increased more than half a million, bringing its fans up to approximately 1.6 million. ACC weChat has released 225 pieces of information, which have been redistributed 15.871 times, bringing the number of views up to 219,156. The customer service center, which has been put into operation in March, started 5×7 hours working cycle and answered inquires up to 1,557 times.
ASEAN and China see a huge potential for future cooperation, thanks to their close neighbour relations and cultural similarities. ACC will fully exploit its advantages to make new contributions in the coming year to push forward practical cooperation and deepen ASEAN-China strategic partnership