One of the center's priorities is to bring students from ASEAN member states and China together so that they would get to know and understand each other better.

About 70,000 students from ASEAN member states are currently studying in China, while 110,000 Chinese students are pursuing studies in Southeast Asia. "These students connect ASEAN and China. We have to strengthen their bond," Ma says.

Tourism, too, plays an important role in people-to-people contacts, he says. Last year, 83 million Chinese traveled aboard, but only about 10 percent of them visited Southeast Asia. Ma is now encouraging more Chinese to visit ASEAN member states. "Everything they want from overseas tours, including sun, sea and sand, to food and shopping, especially brand names, they can get them all in the region without paying for expensive tickets to faraway places," he said.

Perhaps the introduction of ASEAN member states' cultures to ordinary Chinese is a good way of making more of them to visit Southeast Asia. Actually, the ACC is already on the job; it introduced the famous Thai Puppet Troupe Joe Louis to the Chinese TV audience on the eve of the Chinese New Year in January. The troupe performed live on Beijing TV. And on ASEAN Day (that is, Aug 8), the center will organize a special event to mark the 1 million-plus users of popular micro-blog Sina Weibo in ASEAN member states. Selective online fans and ASEAN diplomats have been invited to the program.

As part of ASEAN's commitment to contribute to the ACC, Thailand has sent a director-level official to head the education, culture and tourism sector of the center, while Indonesia has dispatched an official to help with matters related to information and public relations. Other ASEAN member states will take turns to contribute human resources to the center on a three-year rotation basis.

Furthermore, several ASEAN institutes have been set up in universities in various countries including Russia, the United States, Thailand and Singapore, a move complemented by the ACC's emphasis on education and culture. Japan and South Korea might want to adopt this approach to strengthen relations, which would resonate well with the ASEAN agenda of improving people-to-people awareness and understanding among ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea.

The author is assistant group editor of The Nation in Thailand.