China ASEAN and Japan ASEAN Relations during the Post-Cold War Era

Abstract

China–ASEAN relations developed quickly from an absence of diplomatic ties in the immediate post-Cold War period to close interaction and cooperation in the late 1990s. Japan–ASEAN political relations, however, lacked the impetus for advancement during the same period. Japan had, as early as 1977, established dialogue partner relations with ASEAN, and began the process of institutionalizing its dialogue and cooperation with ASEAN at various levels in the areas of industry, science, technology, culture, trade, and investment. China, on the other hand, did not actively seek to establish official relations with ASEAN until the 1990s, after the Cold War. China first participated in the ASEAN Foreign Minister Meeting in 1991 and became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996. By the beginning of the 21st century, the nature of China–ASEAN relations had evolved from one based largely on bilateral relations to a multilateral relationship built on expanded areas of cooperation including finance, human resources development, health and quarantine as well as judicial matters. In the spheres of security and military relations, China signed the Declaration on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and became the first major extra-regional power to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. In 2002, China and ASEAN also released a Joint Declaration on Cooperation in the Field of Non-traditional Security Issues. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's military relations with ASEAN counties had also shifted from one of unofficial to official nature. The contrast between the rapid pace of development in China–ASEAN relations and the lack of advancement in Japan–ASEAN relations was most pronounced in the realm of economic relations. Since the year 2000, the trade volume between China and ASEAN has risen at the average rate of 12.4% annually, while the trade volume between Japan and ASEAN has been decreasing at the average rate of 3% annually.1