LEU SIEW YING in Nanning

Beijing pledged to speed up negotiations with member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations yesterday and boost economic links in a bid to seek early implementation of the China-Asean Free-Trade Area.

Vice-Premier Wu Yi said at the China-Asean business and investment summit in Nanning in Guangxi that Beijing was keen to expand bilateral trade with Asean countries to mechanical and electronic products, and high-value-added products.

Ms Wu also pledged to promote investment and co-operation.

"We will take various steps to encourage our enterprises to increase imports from Asean," she said. "We want to promote mutually beneficial investment by encouraging strong enterprises to invest in Asean and expand the scope and size of their investment.

"We look forward to an early launch of the China-Asean Free Trade Area."

Beijing signed a framework agreement with Asean in 2002 to set up a free-trade area, initially with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by 2010 and bringing in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam by 2015. Trade has been growing at an annual rate of 20 per cent since 1990. Last year, total bilateral trade stood at US$78.2 billion, 90 times the 1978 figure.

The summit was part of the inaugural China-Asean Expo, an initiative proposed by Premier Wen Jiabao to push forward the formation of the economic bloc.

Asked for his views on Ms Wu's proposal, former Malaysian deputy prime minister Musa Hitam said it was going to be difficult as the creation of a free-trade area involved replacing nationalism with another form of decision-making.

But Mr Musa, co-chairman of the Malaysia-China Business Council, said what was important was that there was a political realisation and acceptance of the need to set up such a bloc. "Every leader realises that they cannot go it alone."

Mr Musa said China and Asean could move the process forward through bilateral negotiations because Asean countries were at different stages of development with different interests to protect.

He also warned against a buyer-seller relationship between China and Asean, while saying there would be no returning to the past when the colonial masters of several Asean countries helped themselves to rubber, tin and other primary commodities.

"This give-take mentality must be corrected. Even if you are a small country you can offer something to the relationship. For example, Laos has so much potential in terms of minerals and power," he said.

"China should invest and enter partnerships with Asean countries. It's not a buyer-seller relationship. They have to invest, create employment and give us good prices for our products ... It's got to be a win-win situation."