China's pragmatic approach to relations with its neighbors has been demonstrated again at the just-concluded second Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) summit, held in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province on Monday and Tuesday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao put forward on Tuesday a seven-point proposal on further strengthening GMS partnership and cooperation, and announced that China would individually expand the range of products eligible for preferential tariffs from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, three of the world's most underdeveloped countries, as of Jan. 1, 2006.

"China gets engaged in the regional organizations, and takes a responsible attitude toward its relationship with the neighbors, thus effectively advocating common prosperity and stability," said Jin Linbo, an expert with the Beijing-based Institute of International Studies.

At the two-day Kunming summit, dozens of documents were signed to enable GMS cooperation, an organization which was originally based on infrastructure development, to expand to new areas such as information super-highway construction, tourism and environmental protection.

For the first time in GMS history, government leaders and business communities in the subregion had a chance to have face-to-face contact, and also for the first time in GMS history, China signed a strategic framework for trade and investment facilitation in a bid to encourage more private businesses to join the GMS program.

Since the GMS mechanism was initiated in 1992 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), China has actively participated in all GMS programs. It funded the Kunming-Bangkok highway project, and provided training programs for more than 500 people in agriculture, customs affairs, and telecommunications. In 2004, China set up a special fund totaling 20 million US dollars under the ADB for poverty alleviation of the region.

China's cooperation with other GMS countries has already become a good example of pragmatic cooperation in regional organizations. Such cooperation also helps improve China's relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which the other five GMS members all belong.

In 2003, China and the ASEAN started to build up the world's largest free trade area. As part of the early experiments of this process, China takes non-tariff treatment with Thailand on importing fruits and vegetables. In 2004, the Sino-ASEAN trade volume hit 105.9 billion US dollars, making the ASEAN China's fourth largest trading partner.

China has always taken good-neighborliness as the cornerstone of its foreign policy. In recent years, it has pursued the policy of helping neighbors become rich and secure and live in harmony.

While the GMS summit is convening here, in central Asia, another major regional organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO),is also holding its summit in the Kazak capital of Astana. The SCO, initiated by China in 2001, is the first organization in central Asia on security cooperation. Now it has become one of the most important forces in safeguarding Asian peace and stability.

Besides the SCO, China also sponsored the annual Boao Forum for Asia to promote exchanges among officials, enterpreneurs and scholars of Asian and Pacific countries and regions. China has actively participated in the Asian Cooperation Dialogue, and the foreign ministers' meeting of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In the world today, the Uruguay round talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are deadlocked, and the global free-trade process is encountering setbacks. Revanchist and theocratic Islamic assymetrical warfare that targets civilians as well as governments has become a new threat to all. The countries in the region should work together to confront these challenges and safeguard prosperity and stability.

China's own rapid economic growth lays a foundation for its integration in the region, and it has taken a responsible and sincere attitude toward its neighbors. Just as Premier Wen said at the GMS summit, China has participated in the regional organizations based on equal consultations with mutual respect and focusing on practical results.

As China becomes more and more open, ideology is no longer a criterion for handling relations with other nations. China would like to share its own development with neighbors, make the region more rich and secure, and make joint efforts with other countries to overcome challenges in the region and the world.

Source: Xinhua