proactive in proposing an ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement. This major
initiative would be a major coup for China, as it would bring participants
together to talk about growth and wealth as opposed to problems, and would
help guarantee the stable supply of energy and resources so vital to China’s
economic and political health. Subsequently, China became the first major power
to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation as well as a Joint Declaration on
Strategic Partnership at the same meeting.^17
The conceptual backdrops to these multilateral excursions have been the
so-called New Security Concept, the Peaceful Rise theory, and the Peaceful
Development thesis. The New Security Concept was formulated in the early
post–Tiananmen period and introduced at a 1997 ASEAN meeting. It reempha-
sized cooperative security, multilateral dialogue, confidence-building measures,
and peaceful resolution of conflicts. After September 11, 2001 and renewed
U.S. expressions of concern for a ‘‘China threat,’’ the Peaceful Rise theory
consisted of three claims: China seeks development and peace above all, China
will never seek hegemony, and a stronger China means more trade and growth
for other countries. Most recently the emphasis has been on ‘‘peaceful develop-
ment.’’^18
Since September 11, 2001 China has emphasized the noninterference princi-
ple so central to ASEAN and the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation. It expresses
a strong interest in making the East Asian Summit a success. China has resolved
border issues with Russia and is making progress with India. Chinese officials
have agreed to joint oil and gas prospecting with the Philippines and Vietnam.
In addition to signing the TAC agreement in 2003, China is cooperating on
transnational crime and monetary measures. Conscious of the adverse conse-
quences for ASEAN when it entered the World Trade Organization, Beijing
proffered the idea of the FTA. ASEAN gained export growth to China—to the
tune of about a one-third increase in 2004 alone—making ASEAN China’s
fourth largest import supplier.^19
All of this is to emphasize China’s increasing attention to the effectiveness of
soft power. Helpful actions following the 1997 financial crisis—contributing to
the International Monetary Fund-led package for Thailand and Indonesia, pledg-
ing not to devalue the renminbi, and pledging to sign the Protocol to the Treaty
on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone—have contributed to the
image of China as a ‘‘responsible stakeholder.’’ The Framework Agreement on
ASEAN-China Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, negotiated in November
2002, led to the November 2004 agreement to implement an ASEAN-China Free
Trade Area by 2010. Further evidence of this approach on the economic side
involves a number of currency and loan agreements among the APT.
China’s Defense White Papers of 2002, 2004, and 2006 have all stressed
cooperative approaches to international problems in order to promote domestic
development. According to the latter:
China–Southeast Asia Relations 177