China and ASEAN leaders are gathering here for a high-level summit meeting on Monday, with the aim to pursue regional free trade and enhance political mutual trust.

Leaders of eight ASEAN countries arrived in Nanning Sunday for the summit include prime ministers of Cambodian, Singapore, the Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, president of the Philippines, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Leaders of the remaining ASEAN members are expected to arrive here Monday.

This is the first time leaders from China and the ten ASEAN member countries to convene in China. They are widely expected to chart a future direction of China-ASEAN relations in the coming years.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold bilateral meetings with the ASEAN countries leaders respectively on the sidelines of the summit.

A joint statement is expected to be inked by China and ASEAN countries upon the conclusion of the summit, charting the future China-ASEAN cooperation blueprint.

The third China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit are to kick off on Tuesday.

Chinese experts on international studies believe that the summits and Expo will push the China-ASEAN strategic partnership to a new level.

Shen Shishun, an expert with China Institute of International Studies, said Chinese and ASEAN leaders will probably review the development and achievements of the bilateral relations and set out the future China-ASEAN cooperation.

BLUEPRINT FOR CHINA-ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA

The upcoming commemorative summit is widely believed to lay a solid foundation for accelerating the establishment of China-ASEAN free trade area, which will realize free flow of goods, services and investment.

China-ASEAN free trade area, which will comprise China, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, encompass 1.8 billion population and realize a combined gross domestic product of 2 trillion U.S. dollars when completed in 2010. It is expected to be the most populous free trade area of the world and the largest free trade area amid developing countries.

To fulfill the scenario, a series of measures have been taken.

Beginning from July 1, 2005, China and ASEAN countries started their tariff reduction process. The two sides will gradually reduce or cancel tariffs on 7,000 kinds of products.

By 2010, China and six old ASEAN member nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- will impose zero tariffs on most normal products, while China and the other four new ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- will do the same in 2015.

China and ASEAN's ambitious free trade area project is based on their 15-year-long comprehensive and brisk trade development. According to Chinese statistics, China-ASEAN bilateral trade grew over 20 percent annually over the past 15 years, reaching 130 billion U.S. dollars last year, 15 times the figure in 1991. China is now ASEAN's fourth largest trading partner and ASEAN is China's fourth largest as well.

The trade volume between the two sides is expected to reach 200billion US dollars by 2008, two years ahead of schedule, as construction of the China-ASEAN free trade area is surging ahead.

The World Bank has predicted that China-ASEAN free trade area, upon completion, will turn to be one of the most influential economic powers in the Asia-Pacific region.

ENHANCED MUTUAL POLITICAL TRUST

The upcoming commemorative summit is believed to enhance the mutual political trust between China and ASEAN.

By 1991, China established diplomatic ties with all members of ASEAN. It became ASEAN's all-around dialogue-partnership country in 1996. Currently, China and ASEAN are bent on cementing the "strategic partnership oriented to peace and prosperity".

China has established a multi-level and regular dialogue mechanism with ASEAN with the "ASEAN plus China summit" as the core.

Shen Shishun said the China-ASEAN summit demonstrated that ASEAN countries have put ASEAN-China relations at a more prominent position and the China-ASEAN relations has ushered into a new stage characterized with dialogue, cooperation and common development.

A latest report released by the ASEAN-China Eminent Persons Group (EPG) pointed out that on the political front, the establishment of a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity has laid a solid foundation for the long-term ASEAN-China dialogue partnership.

In the security area, the report said China and ASEAN countries are carrying out cooperation in eight important areas including in the fight against drug trafficking, trafficking of people, illegal immigration, piracies, terrorism, arms smuggling, money laundering and international economic crimes.

The political and security relationship between ASEAN and China is relatively new and developing. The report said ASEAN and China should focus on confidence-building measures to create a climate conductive to engagement and cooperation.

ACCELERATED CULTURAL EXCHANGES

"Well implementation of policies hammered by China and ASEAN state leaders requires understanding and support from common citizens. Cultural exchanges is one of important channels to promote mutual understandings and trust among peoples of China and ASEAN," said Zhai Kun, an expert with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

China and ASEAN countries are taking various measures to promote cultural exchanges, including holding personnel training, promoting tourism and holding art festivals.

The China Guangxi International Youth Exchange Institute has trained more than 200 young officials from ASEAN countries.

China and ASEAN countries are becoming the major tourism destinations and tourist sources for each other.

Some grand art festivals, such as Nanning International Folk Song Festival, are held annually to showcase the splendid arts and culture of China and ASEAN countries.

Editor: Yan