On The Subregion Economic Cooperation Between China And The Southeast Asian States

With the globalization of the world economy and the integration of regional economy, regional economic cooperation in East Asia attracts increasing attention from academic and political circles. However, the regional economic integration in East Asia is very difficult because of diversities in political system, history, culture and religion as well as the economic gap between each country and the complex relations among the major big powers. So, the sub-regional economic cooperation came into being as an alternative form in the Southeast Asian countries. Since the "SIJORI Growth Triangle" was launched, the sub-regional economic cooperation continues to be initiated and developed in Southeast Asia and China. In particular, the Greater Mekong Sub-regional Cooperation initiated and dominated by the Asian Development Bank makes the greatest achievement.The dissertation firstly defines the subregional economic cooperation strictly. Then it researches the process of the sub-regional economic cooperation between China and Southeast Asia countries, especially Greater Mekong sub-regional cooperation. It points out that the domains and areas of cooperation continue to be expanded, the cooperation mechanisms improved, and the level of cooperation deepened, which shows an evolution of cooperation.Secondly, the dissertation discusses the internal and external conditions of the sub-regional economic cooperation. It puts forward that the boundaries turn from the "shielding effect" to "intermediary effect" motivated by the cross-border flow of the cross-border ethnic groups due to the geographical adjacency and complementary resources as well as an open and cooperative policy of all parties in the sub-regional areas, which makes border area change to a new growth point in region economy from the edge of a country. At the same time, the dissertation also finds out that the international organizations play an important role in the sub-regional economic cooperation (especially ADB, the financier, catalyst and advisor of the GMS). And the competition of external big powers in the sub-regional areas will become the external driver of sub-regional economic cooperation because they identify with the cooperative norms of sub-regional areas in the geopolitical competition, which becomes the driving force of sub-regional economic cooperation.This dissertation would like to seek for a path to promote a further cooperation between China and Southeast Asia countries on the basis of assessing the effectiveness of the sub-regional economic cooperation and analyzing the difficulties and obstacles in the cooperation. It claims that the interests distribution is the core of the current problems caused by the political and economic conflicts in sub-regional countries and the geo-political economic competition. Therefore, China can promote the sub-regional economic cooperation with the Southeast Asian countries by improving its strategic position in the sub-regional economic cooperation and sharing interests with the cooperative parties from the perspective of national grand strategies. On this basis, the dissertation makes the following conclusion:1)the development is the initial starting point of the sub-regional economic cooperation, 2)peaceful surroundings and common development is a necessary condition for successful cooperation in sub-regional areas,3)regional identity and the common benefit is the fundamental cause of the sub-regional economic cooperation, and 4) China's (Yunnan, and Guangxi) active participation in the sub-regional economic cooperation is the main driving force.Finally, the dissertation discusses the theoretical framework applied to explain the phenomenon of sub-regional economic cooperation. It proposes a concept of "geo-political economy". On the promotion of the international organizations, the sub-regional countries (local governments) can make use of the natural geographical conditions to construct a culture of cooperation and promote cooperation in different levels and domains in the sub-regional areas. By establishing appropriate cooperation norms, the sub-regional countries (local governments) should guide the external big powers and international organizations to identify with them and ultimately achieve the common economic and social development in the sub-region areas.