Ten young diplomats and officials from the Member States of ASEAN will undergo a one-month training in China this year in a programme designed to enhance closer cooperation and understanding between ASEAN and China.

The programme was one of the four new project proposals endorsed at the Second Meeting of the ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee (ACJCC), held in Kuala Lumpur on 17-18 March 1999. These projects will be financed by the ASEAN-China Cooperation Fund.

The second project proposal will see an ASEAN delegation comprising of officials, senior representatives of the mass media and academic researchers, visit China for about one week in the second half of this year. A similar Chinese delegation will make a return visit to ASEAN in the first half of next year. This is a continuation of the programme started in October 1997 when a delegation of ASEAN officials visited Beijing and held discussions with Chinese officials. In April 1998, a Chinese delegation visit Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, the ASEAN Secretariat and Yogyakarta. Both sides found the exchange of visits very useful and agreed to involve members of the mass media and academia in the programme.

The third project proposal is an ASEAN-China economic cooperation seminar, to be held in ASEAN, to discus specific issues in investment promotion, SMEs cooperation and animal quarantine. This will be a follow-up to the first seminar held in Beijing on 25-26 January 1998, in which the two sides exchanged views on ways and means of promoting trade, investment and cooperation in tourism.

S & T Cooperation

In the fourth new project proposal, ASEAN scientists will meet their Chinese counterparts in a workshop in China to discuss joint activities aimed at enhancing their cooperation in science and technology. The ASEAN side is keen to explore the possibility of collaboration with China in herbal and medicinal plants, transgenic plants, remote sensing, and seismology. The Chinese side has offered to train 20 nominees from ASEAN in one of the following courses: new technology of agricultural machinery (in Beijing); new technology of optical fiber telecommunication (in Wuhan); advanced manufacturing technology and management technology (in Beijing); and small wind power generation/photo-voltaic electricity generation (in Beijing).

The ACJCC is part of the dialogue mechanisms established to promote cooperation between ASEAN and China. The meeting in Kuala Lumpur was co-chaired by Dato' Syeed Sultan Seni Pakir, Director-General of the ASEAN National Secretariat of Malaysia and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

5th ASEAN-China SOM in Kumning

Another forthcoming ASEAN-China meeting is the 5th annual ASEAN-China Senior Officials Political Consultations, scheduled for Kunming on 5-8 April 1999. Leading the ASEAN side to the meeting will be Datuk Abdul Kadir Mohamad, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia. The Chinese side is expected to be led by Vice Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang.