决策者｜东亚地区发展的重要性日益凸显

Editor's note: Decision Makers is a global platform for decision makers to share their insights on events shaping today's world. Cheng Yonghua is the Executive Vice President of China-Japan Friendship Association and former Chinese ambassador to Japan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

编者按：决策者是一个全球平台，供决策者分享他们对影响当今世界之事件的见解。程永华是中日友好协会常务副会长，曾任中国驻日本大使。文章仅代表作者的观点，而非本台观点。

"The trilateral cooperation among China, Japan and South Korea has grown from scratch, from small to large over the past two decades," Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said at the 2023 International Forum for Trilateral Cooperation in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on July 3. Asian countries should "practice open regionalism, not be coerced by bullying and hegemony, and take the destiny of their own country and the region into their own hands," Wang added.

2023年7月3日，中央政治局委员、中共中央外事工作委员会主任王毅在青岛出席2023年中日韩合作国际论坛开幕式并致辞，他指出：“二十多年来，（中日韩）三国合作从无到有，从小到大。” 他还表示，亚洲各国应 “践行开放的区域主义……不受霸权霸道的胁迫，把本国和本地区的命运牢牢把握在自己手中。”

As the former Chinese ambassador to Japan, I have ample experience in East and Southeast Asia and would like to offer four insights for a better understanding of the history, background, mode, status, and future of Asian economic cooperation, trade, and foreign relations.

作为中国前驻日本大使，我在东亚和东南亚地区有着丰富的外交经验，愿基于此，提出四点观察，以更好地理解亚洲经贸合作和外交关系的历史背景、模式、现状及未来趋势。

First, Asian trade and cooperation is not only important for the regional development but also for the global economy and international situation. In the face of recent worldwide challenges such as the pandemic and anti-globalization, East Asia has tackled them in stride, while the United States and Europe have encountered collaboration difficulties and marked economic slowdowns.

首先，亚洲各国之间的贸易与合作不仅对区域发展至关重要，而且对全球经济和国际形势具有重大影响。面对新冠疫情和逆全球化等全球性挑战，东亚各国能够从容面对，而欧美则在合作上遇到诸多困难，经济增长显著放缓。

Regarding the pandemic, the strong recovery of Asian societies and economies in dealing with COVID-19 is also inspiring. As for anti-globalization, while the United States has increasingly withdrawn from collaboration, initiatives in East Asia, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), have been put forth even during the aforementioned global crises.

亚洲各国的疫情防控表现出色，疫后经济社会的强劲复苏有效提振了全球经济。至于逆全球化问题，美国愈加回避合作。而相比之下，即使在上述全球危机期间，东亚地区仍然推出了诸如区域全面经济伙伴关系（RCEP）等倡议。

Besides, the economic structures in individual East Asian economies, particularly between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), are complementary, allowing deep integration between the two systems and consequently securing the free trade agreements (FTA), which are extremely important in promoting high trade volumes. This is despite FTA progress between the three countries being stalled in recent years.

此外，东亚各经济体（尤其是中国和韩国）的经济结构高度互补，有望实现经济发展的深度融合，进而促成自由贸易协定，这对提升各经济体之间的贸易量至关重要。然而事实上，近年来，中日韩自由贸易协定谈判几乎陷入停滞。

Although China certainly takes the lead among the three nations combined, they recognize the weight they carry. The total GDP of China, Japan, and the ROK combined accounts for approximately 20 percent of the global GDP, and among the RCEP member countries, 80 percent. These nations mutually recognize the advantages of their cooperation as the driving powerhouse of East Asian growth.

虽然说中国是东亚三国中的领头羊，但中日韩三国都对自己的实力地位有清楚的认知。中日韩三国的GDP总和占全球GDP的约20%，而在RCEP成员国中，这一比例为80%。三国都清楚地认识到它们之间的合作优势明显，是推动东亚增长的强大动力。

2023年7月3日，王毅在山东青岛出席2023年中日韩合作国际论坛开幕式。/中国外交部

The third point was the long-term historical and cultural links between China and East and Southeast Asia that mark the basis of fruitful East-Southeast Asian collaboration. Chinese influence in the region can be traced as far back as the Han and Tang dynasties. With about 2,000 years of intercultural interactions underway, similarities are abundant such as the integrated usage of Chinese characters (hanzi) or the widespread influence of Confucian teachings to cultures and countries like Japan, the ROK, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia.

第三，中国与东亚及东南亚之间的长期历史文化纽带，构成了有效合作的基础。中国在该地区的影响可追溯至汉唐时期。经过约2000年的文化交融，双方相似之处比比皆是，例如汉字的广泛使用，儒家思想对日本、韩国、朝鲜、越南、新加坡和马来西亚等国文化的深远影响。

With this background, fittingly, China is one of the trade and cooperation leaders in the ASEAN region, mutually ranking each other's largest trading partners for the past three years. The 2022 trade volume alone between China and ASEAN nations was 6.52 trillion yuan ($943 billion), up by 15 percent year-on-year. Data and statistics like this result from effective regional cooperation mechanisms, such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, which has become the world's third-largest free trade area, or the China-ASEAN (10+1) Cooperation Mechanism.

在这个背景下，中国自然而然成为了东盟最大的经贸合作伙伴。过去三年里，中国和东盟互为最大的贸易伙伴，仅2022年中国和东盟的贸易额就达到6.52万亿元，同比增长15%。这些数据和成果源于有效的区域合作机制，比如中国—东盟自由贸易区（全球第三大自由贸易区）、中国—东盟 “10+1” 合作机制。

In the Asian context, for both East Asia and Southeast Asia, this dependency is not seen negatively; instead, promoting mutual development, in turn, helps each country and contributes to the general growth of the world economy as well as East Asia's growing importance in it.

在亚洲地区，无论是东亚还是东南亚，这种相互依存关系并非是负面消极的。相反，推动共同发展有利于亚洲各国，也有利于世界经济的总体增长，提升东亚在世界经济中的地位。

Finally, East and Southeast Asia tend to be preying zones for global powers to assert their soft power. However, nations should abandon their "new Cold War" mentality toward participation in East Asia and instead promote sustainable development in the region. Global challenges such as weak economic recovery, the tendency for decoupling and breaking ties, production and supply chain tensions, and energy, food, and finance issues have put the world on edge, causing more and more nations to tend towards protectionist measures and "picking sides."   

最后，东亚和东南亚往往是全球大国施展软实力的舞台。各国参与东亚事务时，应摒弃 “新冷战” 思维，立足促进该地区的可持续发展。目前全球性挑战纷繁复杂，如经济复苏乏力、脱钩断交趋势严峻、生产链和供应链中断，能源、粮食和金融问题让世界摇摇欲坠，这些都令各国倍感紧张，也导致越来越多的国家倾向于采取保护主义措施和 “选边站队”。

However, promoting cooperation in East Asia and Southeast Asia over recent years, these regions have proven that maintaining stability and promoting open multilateral integrated sustainable development will generate long-term benefits for all involved.

然而，过去几年来，东亚和东南亚地区合作实践证明，维持稳定、推动多边开放可持续发展，将为各方参与者带来长远的利益。

To inspire East Asia's "dynamism," it's time to relinquish the outdated perception of the West dominating the global economy in the three-tiered structure system of the United States leading, Europe following, and Asia falling behind. Instead, a more nuanced understanding that recognizes East Asia as one of the three major global trade centers, a significant contributor to new economic growth, and a key player in the worldwide manufacturing system is not only more representative of the 21st century global economic reality but also models successful partnership mechanisms for the rest of the world to follow.

西方在全球经济中占主导地位的观念已经过时，为了激发东亚的发展活力，我们要摒弃美国领先、欧洲跟随、亚洲落后的三层级体系。我们需要认识到东亚是全球三大贸易中心之一，是经济新增长点的重要贡献者，也是全球制造业体系的关键参与者。这不仅更符合21世纪全球经济的现实情况，也能为世界其他地区提供可仿效的成功合作模式与机制。

Special thanks to Peking University's Yenching Global Symposium and the assistance of Caitlin Tierney.

特此感谢北京大学燕京学堂全球青年中国论坛和凯特琳·蒂尔尼提供的协助。

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