After the establishment of ASEAN in 1967, the economic and trade relations between China and the five ASEAN countries developed slowly. Due to the easing of tense China-US relations, the worsening of Sino-Soviet relations, and other changes in the international political landscape, China and ASEAN countries made a series of adjustments to their policies, leading to the gradual normalization of China-ASEAN relationsTang Chong, “From Hostility to Normalization: Diplomatic Relations between China and ASEAN Countries in the Cold War Era,” Southeast Asia & South Asian Studies, Vol.2, No.2, 2013, pp.2-5.. The establishment of a “dialogue relationship” in 1991 opened a new chapter in China-ASEAN relations. Since then, mutual political trust has been continuously strengthened, and economic and trade cooperation and exchanges have become increasingly frequent. Especially in the 1997 Asian financial crisis, China insisted that the RMB should not depreciate and provided economic support to the crisis-stricken Southeast Asian countries through international agencies and bilateral aid, which was widely acclaimed by ASEAN countries. In December of the same year, the two sides proposed to establish a “good-neighborly partnership of mutual trust oriented to the 21st century”. Since then, China and ASEAN have established a wide range of exchange mechanisms, further strengthening their bilateral relations. In 2000, the initiative to establish a free trade agreement, which was put forward by China, received a positive response from ASEAN. In 2002, China and ASEAN signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which demonstrated the sincerity of the two sides to strengthen good-neighborly and friendly relations and resolve the South China Sea disputes peacefully. In October 2003, China joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, upgrading the bilateral relations to a “strategic partnership for peace and prosperity” and laying a solid foundation for all-around economic and trade cooperation. Thus China-ASEAN relations ushered in a “golden decade”At the opening ceremony of the 10th ASEAN-China Expo in 2013, Premier Li Keqiang hailed the past decade as the “Golden Decade” of China-ASEAN. This year, the two sides will work together to build a “Diamond Decade”: http://www.gov.cn/ldhd/2013-09/03/content_2480437.html.. In January 2010, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was completed as scheduled. It was the world’s third-largest FTA after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area.