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China officially submitted a protocol asking to join the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation in Southeast Asia at the ninth consultative meeting between high-ranking officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in mid-August.

Both sides agreed that the signing ceremony for China's entry to the treaty will be held during the China-ASEAN summit next month. China will then become the first non-member of ASEAN to officially join the treaty.

The treaty was signed in February 1976 by the five founding members of ASEAN - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It is the basic political document of ASEAN. The main issues dealt with in the treaty are: mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national recognition; non-intervention in other countries' internal affairs; effective co-operation among member nations; peaceful solutions to disputes through friendly negotiations and the renunciation of the threat or use of force. The treaty was amended in 1987 and 1998, making it open to membership for countries outside Southeast Asia.

Since 1998, ASEAN has expressed the hope many times that China would be the first big power outside the region to join the treaty. In June this year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, approved China's accession to the treaty. This step paved the way legislatively for China's official entry to the treaty.

China's entry again indicates the important position that the neighbouring areas hold in China's diplomacy and it demonstrates that China's diplomatic strategy is becoming increasingly clear.

To consolidate its surrounding environment, Beijing has undertaken a series of positive measures, such as enhancing its relationship with traditional friendly neighbours and actively taking part in solving regional disputes.

Realizing the lack of a mechanism for political co-ordination in Asia, China has also begun to promote the building of regional co-ordination mechanisms - for example, strengthening the political function of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum and initiating the establishment of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization.

ASEAN is, of course, a key part in China's diplomacy. Furthering political mutual trust through economic co-operation is one of China's diplomatic methods to make breakthroughs in its relations with ASEAN.

The development of overall China-ASEAN relations has been positive since the 1990s. The 1997 financial crisis provided both sides with an opportunity to promote a relationship of mutual trust and friendly co-operation. In addition to economic relations, co-operation in the political and security fields has also been increasingly enhanced.

What is worth noting is that the legal standing of this co-operative relationship has been rapidly upgraded. The leadership of both China and ASEAN issued a joint statement in 1997, announcing their decision to set up a good-neighbourly partnership of mutual trust oriented towards the 21st century. Both sides agreed unanimously to regard the treaty, the United Nations Charter, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and other recognized international laws as the basic principles for dealing with mutual relations.

Last year, both sides signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation to set up a free-trade area. A new basis for co-operation was provided by the Joint Declaration on Co-operation in the Field of Non-Traditional Security Issues. Reaching consensus on the need for a peaceful solution to disputes in and the joint development of the South China Sea, China and ASEAN also signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

The regional integration of East Asia is perceived as a possible option to achieve regional prosperity and stability, which has already become one of China's long and mid-term strategic objectives.

China's entry into the treaty could well produce a chain reaction and evoke a positive response from other countries in this region. In fact, before and after China submitted its protocol to join the treaty, Japan, India and Russia also expressed their intention to join the treaty. Undoubtedly, China's action will advance a step forward towards the objective of regional integration.

Due to historical reasons and the size of China, ASEAN member countries have in the past distrusted China. To China, it is critical to eliminate the understandable apprehension of ASEAN in two ways.

First, China needs to show its sincerity in developing friendly and co-operative relations with ASEAN through concrete action. China's behaviour during the 1997 financial crisis, together with the favourable conditions unilaterally offered by China with regard to the planned China-ASEAN free-trade area, has demonstrated that China is sincere and serious in developing its relations with ASEAN members.

Second, China needs to publicly and officially carry out its legal obligations and to make a political promise to restrict its own behaviour. The political and legal documents signed between China and ASEAN have provided a legal basis and guarantee for ASEAN members to trust China.

Demonstrating its sincerity in being friendly towards and becoming partners with its neighbours, China's imminent entry into the treaty actually amounts to its joining a mutual non-aggression treaty.

China is a big country. It should be integrated into the world and be a responsible country. Since the 1990s, China has accelerated its integration into the world, particularly in the economic field. But China was not active in the political and security fields due to its lack of understanding of the outside world.

This has been changed greatly in recent years. At least in its diplomacy with neighbouring countries, China has begun an omnidirectional form of foreign co-operation that is no longer restricted to the economic, social and cultural fields but has extended to the sensitive fields of security and politics.

China has realized that regional integration is not only an economic and social process but also a political and security one. It has also realized at the same time that, to gain the trust of surrounding countries or to play the role that a big power should play in this region, it must integrate itself into the regional community omnidirectionally and help make and abide by the rules of the game with other countries. China's development of its relations with ASEAN has demonstrated this great change in China's diplomatic strategy.

The author is a researcher with Peking University's School of International Studies.