Guest Opinion: People-to-people exchange year knits China-ASEAN community tighter

by Kin Phea
The China-ASEAN People-to-People Exchange Year 2024 has played a pivotal role in enhancing friendship, cooperation, and mutual understanding and trust between the peoples of China and ASEAN, injecting a strong impetus into building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
People-to-people contacts between China and ASEAN countries date back more than 1,000 years ago to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when Chinese merchants traveled to Southeast Asia for trade.
Since China and ASEAN officially established dialogue relations in July 1991, people-to-people exchanges have served as the backbone of their ties. These interactions have advanced their comprehensive strategic partnership by enhancing mutual understanding and trust, promoting socio-economic development, and maintaining regional peace, security, and stability.
The exchange year has further enhanced mutual understanding and friendship through closer people-to-people connections in various fields.
From infrastructure projects to trade partnerships, China-proposed initiatives have played a crucial role in ASEAN’s socio-economic development, improving people’s livelihoods and fostering economic growth across the region.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, such as the Sihanoukville Special Economy Zone, the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway and the Siem Reap Angkor International Airport in Cambodia, the China-Laos Railway in Laos, and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia, have significantly boosted interconnectivity, economy and trade in the region.
Since the start of the year, China and ASEAN have organized various activities in cultural, tourism, education, media, and youth-focused fields. These activities have played a crucial role in strengthening China-ASEAN relations by tapping into the most dynamic and innovative domains of people-to-people exchanges.
Youth exchanges, in particular, are crucial to deepening China-ASEAN relations as young people are the trailblazers for the future in the face of global challenges and uncertainties.
The 2024 China-ASEAN Excellent Youth Summer Camp, jointly organized by the International Relations Institute of Cambodia of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, and the College of Political Science and Public Administration of Henan Normal University on Oct. 20-26 in central China’s Henan Province, is a vivid example of these efforts.
The focus on people-to-people exchanges has deepened historical and cultural connections, and strengthened friendship and mutual understanding, playing a vital role in the long-term success of regional cooperation.
In conclusion, the exchange year has helped build a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful, and amicable region, injecting vigorous momentum into building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future for the combined population of more than 2 billion.

Editor’s note: Kin Phea is director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Xinhua News Agency.