KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Ongoing efforts by the West, particularly the United States, to use members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in efforts to undermine China in the region have failed to gain any support, analysts told a forum here on Friday.
Regional countries embrace the peaceful rise of China that will lift their own economic and development goals, Roy Anthony Rogers, a professor at the Universiti Malaya Asia-Europe Institute Associate, said during the "China Rising: Contrasting Perspectives from Europe and Asia" forum.
"Among ASEAN, Malaysia in particular has demonstrated that it is strongly neutral while at the same time recognizing that China is its most important trade and economic partner," he said.
Noting that the two countries mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year, he said that the longstanding trade and diplomatic ties as well as geographical proximity and people-to-people exchanges will see the two nations' ties stand firm.
"This year marks the 50th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic ties (between China and Malaysia) or as the Chinese would say the golden anniversary. As the saying goes 'true gold does not fear fire,' so too will this friendship survive efforts at driving a wedge as Malaysia has been committed to free and open trade while also having a longstanding tradition of neutrality and non-alignment," he added.
Bunn Nagara, director and a senior fellow of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific (BRICAP), said ASEAN members have repeatedly demonstrated that they will not allow themselves to be caught up in geopolitical rivalry and bloc confrontation.
"ASEAN will not be pulled into taking sides. Already we have seen China invest in manufacturing and developing infrastructure in the region, not only through its Belt and Road Initiative which aims at building transport and logistics infrastructure ... As China continues to move forward in the high-tech manufacturing sector, countries including Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia supply parts, components and commodities to China. It has become smooth and well-integrated and (the countries) certainly (are) resistant to efforts aimed at disrupting this relationship," he said.
For his part, Martin Jacques, a British scholar, said caution is needed as the U.S.-led West is seeking to disrupt the progress that China has made in terms of delivering affordable mass-produced high-quality products.
"Unfortunately, the United States is playing a losing game and a non-constructive role while China's electric vehicle and green energy sectors are continuing to thrive, threatening efforts at fighting climate change and implementing sustainable policies with its sanctions and trade barriers," he said.
"This is to its own detriment as the world is becoming more dependent on China's green technology while the United States through its protectionist policies is actually harming and stagnating its own development. They (United States) are opting out of innovation and healthy competition due to narrow political interests," he said. ■
