Cooperation between ASEAN and China is increasingly important for ensuring regional
prosperity, peace and security in Asia–Pacific. Relations between the two have changed
considerably since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. In the past, differences
of political ideology caused some in Southeast Asian countries to suspect that China’s
intentions in the region included promoting communism as well as expanding Chinese
influence. When ASEAN was formed in 1967, China condemned the organisation as a
tool of the United States. China changed its policy toward Southeast Asia after the
Sino–Soviet clash in 1969. Soon after, China normalised its relations with the US to
counterbalance with the Soviet threat in the 1970s and it began formal diplomatic
recognition of some ASEAN members, including Malaysia in 1974 and the Philippines
and Thailand in 1975. ASEAN and China came to share some strategic interests, with
their joint opposition to the Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Cambodia in the late
1970s.
After the Cold War ended, ASEAN and China moved towards closer and deeper relations.
In 1991, ASEAN–China dialogue relations were begun at the 24th ASEAN Ministerial
Meeting in Malaysia. In 1994, China played an active role in forming the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) and became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996. ASEAN and China
multilateral relations were begun in 1997 in the ASEAN Plus One meeting, which is held
annually in conjunction with the annual ASEAN Plus Three (APT) meeting, which also
began in 1997. The growing trend towards regionalism brought ASEAN and China to
sign a Free Trade Area Agreement in 2002 and the following year their relations were
accelerated to a comprehensive level with the signing of the Joint Declaration on
Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.