Asean should ditch ‘younger, weaker brother’ mentality when dealing with China, experts say at South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia
- Region sells itself short as a ‘taker, rather than giver’ but should instead take confidence in being the world’s fifth largest – and growing – economy, expert says
- Conference also hears how the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has created a ‘common market’ that chimes with Beijing’s dual circulation theory
That was among the key themes touched on by economic and trade experts during the first day of the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Southeast Asia.
Chris Humphrey, the executive director of the EU-Asean Business Council, said the bloc had tended to view itself as a “younger, weaker brother” in its relationships with other nations, but it should not do given its economic heft.
“I think Asean always tends to view itself as more of the taker rather than the giver in many of these relationships, but it has an awful lot to offer, a lot to offer China as well,” Humphrey said, pointing to how Asean as a region was currently the world’s fifth largest economy and home to the world’s third largest workforce.
Humphrey was part of an online panel discussing how a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China could impact the Asean region.
He spoke alongside Trinh Nguyen, senior economist of emerging Asia at Natixis, and Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation.