ASEAN WELCOMES CHINA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE GROUPING

By Mohd Nasir Yusoff

JAKARTA, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- China, with the appointment of its first
ambassador to Asean on the last day of 2008, once again demonstrated its strong
commitment and enthusiasm to strengthen ties and work more closely with the
10-nation regional association.

Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan, in welcoming the appointment of
Xue Hanqin as China 's first ambassador to Asean, said it would strengthen the
ties that started with the Asean-China dialogue in 1991 and its formalisation in
1996.

"We have cultivated an extensive and strategic partnership spanning
political and security, trade and economic to social and cultural cooperation,"
he said in a statement here Thursday.

China is currently Asean's fourth largest trading partner and both enjoy
close economic ties.

Surin said the Asean-China Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation and the Trade in Goods Agreement were signed in 2002 and 2004,
respectively, and both were currently negotiating on the further liberalisation
of their services markets under the Trade in Services Agreement which was signed
in Jan 2007.

"Negotiations on an Investment Agreement have also just been concluded," he
said, adding that in recent months, Asean had forged closer relations with
China's provinces, specifically the provinces of Guangdong, Hubei and Shaanxi,
to cooperate in areas of mutual interest.

"Now, with Ambassador Xue's appointment to Asean, I am confident that the
Asean-China relationship will be further deepened and widened," Surin added.

China becomes the sixth Asean dialogue partner to appoint an ambassador to
Asean after the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.
-- BERNAMA