BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - friendly neighbors and partners - have further deepened their relations. The two sides are cooperating more closely in the political, economic, social and cultural areas, and are consistently supporting each other in international affairs.

    The following is a chronology of China-ASEAN relations since 1991.

    China and ASEAN began talks in 1991, when former Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen was invited to the opening ceremony of the 24th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, marking the start of the formal contact between China and ASEAN. Since then, Chinese foreign ministers have been invited to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting every year.

    In July 1996, The ASEAN Standing Committee elevated the status of China from consultative partnership to full dialogue partnership, after a request from China in March the same year.

    In December 1997, Chinese former President Jiang Zemin attended the first China-ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. After the summit, the two sides issued the Joint Declaration of the People's Republic of China and ASEAN Summit, establishing guidelines for their relationship and the policy of a good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust oriented to the 21st century.

    Since then, China-ASEAN ties have entered a new stage.

    At the sixth China-ASEAN Summit in Cambodia in November 2002, leaders of the two sides signed the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, deciding to establish the China-ASEAN free trade area by 2010.

    During the Seventh China-ASEAN Summit in October 2003, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and ASEAN leaders signed the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. At the meeting, China formally submitted an application to ASEAN to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

    In November 2004, in a presentation to the Eighth China-ASEAN Summit in Laos, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made 10 proposals for further mutual cooperation. The two sides signed the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and the Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism. These two agreements marked the beginning of the construction of a free trade area encompassing China and the ASEAN members.

    In December 2005, at the Ninth China-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao put forward five initiatives to ensure more vigorous and fruitful growth of relations between China and ASEAN. Transportation, energy, culture, tourism and public health were to be the five new key areas of China-ASEAN cooperation. At the meeting, ASEAN announced China's formal partnership with the East ASEAN Growth Area.

    The construction of the China-ASEAN free trade area is proceeding smoothly with the deepening of their mutually beneficial cooperation. Beginning from July 1, 2005, China and ASEAN countries started their tariff-reducing process when the Agreement on Trade in Goods became effective. The two sides have gradually reduced or cancelled tariffs on 7,000 kinds of products. The bilateral trade volume between China and ASEAN had amounted to160.8 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2006, with a year-on-year increase of 23.4 percent.

    China and ASEAN countries signed the Agreement on Trade in Services of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in the Philippines in January this year, laying the foundation for the China-ASEAN free trade area to be completed as scheduled.