President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China will not seek "hegemony" or bully smaller countries as he announced USD 1.5 billion development assistance for the ASEAN besides the elevation of the ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership to strengthen security cooperation with the 10-nation bloc, amid the US push
into the resource rich Indo-Pacific.
Xi made the remarks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China Special Summit to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations.
Addressing the summit via video link, President Xi reiterated that China "resolutely opposes hegemonism and power politics, wishes to maintain friendly relations with its neighbours and jointly nurture lasting peace in the region and absolutely will not seek hegemony or even less, bully the small."
"As distance tests a horse's strength, time reveals a person's heart," Xi said. "China was, is and will always be ASEAN's good neighbour, good friend and good partner. I want to stress that China will unswervingly make ASEAN the priority of its neighbouring diplomacy."
China, which was the first to establish a special relationship with the ASEAN countries Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, reaped big benefits as the trade with the bloc touched over USD 732 billion last year with Beijing emerging as its largest trading partner.
India, which shares a special relationship with the ASEAN countries, too held its India-ASEAN summit last month in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said 2022 would be celebrated as the ‘ASEAN-India Friendship Year' to mark 30 years of their partnership.
Addressing the summit, President Xi announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership, which is diplomatic jargon to elevate the relations to a higher level.
China has several categories to label its ties with different countries. The lowest is partnership, while the highest level is comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era which is specific to its ties with Russia, Beijing's emerging close ally.
"This is a new milestone in the history of our relations and will inject new impetus into peace, stability, prosperity and development of our region and the world," Xi said.
"China is ready to provide ASEAN with another USD 1.5 billion of development assistance in the next three years to support ASEAN countries' fight against COVID-19 and economic recovery,” he said.