China-ASEAN Relations in the 21st Century: Continuity and Change

Abstract

Are we witnessing a movement toward what appears to be a greater institutionalization of the relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)? This special issue goes to press not long after the signing of the ChinaASEAN Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea at the Eighth ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh. At this summit, it was clear that China- ASEAN relations had reached a new level, both in terms of the need to integrate their economies, and the degree to which China demonstrated its willingness to engage ASEAN on regional security issues within a multilateral framework. The idea for this special issue of Asian Perspective emerged from a panel convened on China- ASEAN relations at the International Studies Association in Hong Kong in 2001, and from the networking and exchange of ideas with other scholars attending the conference. It also grew out of the ongoing work of the ChinaASEAN Project, established by the Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong in 1996, when the rapidly changing links between China and the states of Southeast Asia presented researchers with an increasingly complex situation to monitor and analyze. Relations between the ten states of ASEAN and China have changed considerably over the last decade or so. Challenges in analyzing this complex relationship include: understanding how