Poverty Reduction and Neighborhood Diplomacy under ASEAN + China Framework 4

V. Deepening the Work Thought of China-ASEAN Cooperation on Poverty Reduction

  ASEAN, which holds an important strategic position in China's diplomacy with  neighboring countries, is not only Asia's largest and most active regional organization, but also China's third largest trading partner and the only way for the 21st century maritime Silk Road. To strengthen cooperation with ASEAN countries in poverty reduction concerns not only how China plays the role of a responsible power, but also the relationship with ASEAN countries, especially the status of China in their minds. In the current context of complex and volatile surrounding situations, the poverty reduction cooperation with ASEAN countries must be viewed from a strategic perspective, and deemed as an important measure for planning and shaping the peripheral regions. To further promote the China-ASEAN cooperation in poverty reduction under the 10 + 1 framework, we should strengthen the relevant work from the following aspects.

(A)To strengthen top-level design and complete construction of institutional mechanisms

  We should enhance the weight of poverty reduction diplomacy in the neighborhood diplomacy. We should increase policies input and funding, establish inter-ministerial coordination mechanism, make overall plans on and coordinate the poverty reduction cooperation among ministries and commissions, and strive to give an overall consideration on poverty reduction cooperation, assistance cooperation, development of FTZs and sub-regional cooperation. In addition, we should pay more attention to improving local production and employment in foreign aid projects, so as to directly benefiting more poor people.

(B) To incorporate poverty reduction cooperation into the "One Belt One Road" initiative

  Currently "One Belt One Road" is focusing on productive infrastructure projects, and poverty alleviation and other livelihood assistance have not yet fully followed up or formed supporting projects, so the local people are benefited little directly, which affects the social environment for project implementation to a certain extent. Therefore, we should promote the overall planning on and supporting implementation of poverty reduction cooperation and "One Belt One Road" to realize people's livelihood first and connected aspiration of the people in the building of "One Belt One Road".  We should consider the establishment of special poverty reduction expenditure in foreign aid budget, ensure the amount of livelihood aid to be stable and to increase gradually, expand the scale of non-reimbursable assistance, and simplify examination and approval procedures for humanitarian emergency assistance.

(C) To establish a comprehensive platform for China-ASEAN poverty reduction cooperation

  Education, as a "productive" social investment, is conducive to economic development and helping ASEAN countries develop the undertakings of social poverty alleviation such as capacity building and training, with achievements in the contemporary era and benefits for the future generations. According to the condition of low enrollment for high schools and colleges in some ASEAN countries, China may implement targeted poverty reduction programs of education and training. Educational programs mainly focus on basic education, in order to enhance the general level of education in some ASEAN countries. Training programs are targeted at specific economic development and industrial development in these countries to set up specialized technical training institutions so as to improve the skills of the labor force and increase the employability of the general public.

(D) To play the active role of enterprises and social forces in poverty reduction cooperation

  We should urge foreign cooperative enterprises to strengthen social responsibility awareness, expand investment in public welfare of poverty reduction, and encourage domestic civil organizations and volunteers with specialized skills to "go out" to the grassroots of target countries for poverty alleviation.

(E) To give full play to the effect of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone (FTZ)

  In process of building an updated version of China-ASEAN FTZ, we may refer to economic development indicators of some ASEAN countries, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers on sensitive products and services, further reduce or eliminate the threshold for the access of mutual investment, speed up free circulation of people, logistics, capital flow and information flow, and create a new space of development for the ASEAN countries, so as to benefit the poor population.

 

(F) To encourage and guide various existing cooperation funds to flow to the field of ​​poverty reduction

  At present, China, ASEAN and the ASEAN countries have established a China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund, China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation Fund, China-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation Fund and Special Fund for Asia. For various reasons, some funds are confronted with the status of cautious cooperation of target countries, so that it is difficult to give full play to the funds. We may consider increasing the input of poverty reduction programs, which can not only reduce the suspicion of target countries on various funds, but also get more financial support from poverty reduction projects.

(G) To maintain a sustained focus on cooperation on poverty reduction in agriculture

  China and most ASEAN countries are faced with the challenge of large-scale rural poor and the arduous task of poverty reduction. Therefore, to strengthen agricultural cooperation is of mutual strategic needs. In addition to traditional cooperation in agricultural poverty reduction, China and ASEAN may strengthen communication and cooperation in response to rising food prices and natural disasters, build up domestic policy systems and regional cooperation mechanisms that prevent financial risks and natural disasters, and guarantee the basic needs of the poor, so as to improve the risk protection system.

(H) To intensify the efforts of public diplomacy, and highlight the contribution of poverty reduction

  We should make good use of domestic and foreign media, and conduct tracking reports on some projects of poverty reduction cooperation with significant achievements, and change the situation that does more or say less or only does without saying in this regard. In particular, we should strengthen the reports on poverty reduction effect of some foreign aid projects, and counter various distortion and vilification of the Western media on China's foreign aid projects.

 

VI. Conclusion

 

To eliminate poverty and achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals is the common concern of China and ASEAN countries. China and ASEAN have carried out fruitful cooperation in the field of poverty reduction, and accumulated a lot of experience and foundation. Under the new circumstances, both sides should strive to achieve the connectivity of national development planning, innovate cooperation model for poverty reduction, and further deepen the poverty reduction cooperation under the "10 + 1" framework. China has rich experience in poverty reduction, and at the same time, as the world's second largest economy, should provide more public products of poverty reduction for neighboring countries including ASEAN. Four fundamental relations need to be addressed in poverty reduction cooperation, including the relation between endogenous driving force and external assistance, the relation between regional development and precise poverty alleviation, the relation between the government, market and society and the relation between man and nature. To deepen cooperation on poverty reduction, China needs to further improve cooperation in the development of institutional mechanisms for poverty reduction in addition to continuing to carry forward the existing policy advantages, and strive to make the poverty reduction cooperation more accurate and efficient. At the same time, China and ASEAN should strengthen coordination and cooperation on the issues in the Post-2015 Development Agenda of the United Nations, and promote the eradication of poverty and development as its core. The two sides may also explore to cooperate with third parties in poverty reduction to jointly push forward the realization of the great goal of poverty elimination.

 

 

 

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