Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

Forestry Cooperation：A Green Benefit to ASEAN and China - An exclusive interview with Zhang Jianlong， Director General of the State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China

Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

China-ASEAN Expo Forest & Wood Products Exhibition has been annually held since 2010, with increasingly improved sizes, standards and influences. The 13th CAEXPO is around the corner. The other day Mr. Zhang Jianlong, Director General of the State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China, gave an interview to China-ASEAN Panorama, answering questions regarding the preparations for promoting ASEANChina forestry cooperation during the 13th CAEXPO.

Remarkable achievements

“Over the years, the trade volume of forest & wood products between ASEAN and China has been steadily increasing, due to more wide-ranging cooperation fields, and more close cooperative relationship between the two sides. In 2015, for example, the bilateral trade volume amounted to US$ 31.8 billion, of which the amount of China’s imports from ASEAN totaled US$ 20 billion. Now China has become the most important export market of ASEAN states’forest and wood products, establishing critical trading partnerships with Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Myanmar,” said Director General Zhang. “ASEAN states are regarded as China enterprises’ leading destinations for forestry investment and cooperation. For the past few years, a number of Chinese enterprises which have suffi cient capital and competitive technologies have conducted forestry investment cooperation with ASEAN states, such as setting up their wood-processing plants and growing fast-growing trees, thus increasing the employment and revenue of local communities, raising the level of forestry’s development and spurring the economic development.”

With regard to ASEAN-China exchanges and cooperation in the forestry industry, impressive achievements, as noted by Director General Zhang, are as follows: fi rstly, in 2010, bilateral MOUs on forestry cooperation were signed by China’s State Forestry Administration and some ASEAN states’ departments concerned of Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei, respectively, enhancing exchanges and cooperation in terms of afforestation, forest management, transnational protection of rare animals and plants, and high-quality germplasm cultivation; secondly, the exchanges and cooperation involving economic forest cultivation, and processing & utilization (including oil-tea camellia, star anise and cinnamon), have been conducted between ASEAN states and China; thirdly, the exchanges and cooperation relating to the legislation, law enforcement and administrative management of forestry have been strengthened through bilateral high-level exchanges of forestry departments, international seminars and personnel training; and lastly, multilateral channels like APEC have been also effectively applicable to bilateral exchanges and cooperation regarding forestry.

Furthermore, Director General Zhang pointed out that ASEAN states and China should continue fostering cooperation mechanism, figuring out ways of cooperation and tapping into cooperation potential, because bilateral cooperation in forestry is just at the preliminary stage.

Numerous challenges at the preliminary cooperation stage

“The development of ASEAN-China forestry is faced with a number of challenges and actual problems, although the forest coverage rates of ASEAN states and China has markedly increased, driven by the energetic efforts of the two sides,” said Director General Zhang. “The ratios of ASEAN states and China’s forestry outputs in their respective GDPs are on the decline; the ecological service function of forest hasn’t been taken into full consideration; both naturalforests’ destruction and forest degradation remain serious; various contradictions which are caused by economic development, expansion of urban and rural areas, infrastructure construction, large demands for woods and global warming continue to be prominent, including the increased difficulty in preserving forest resources, forest resource conservation and application, and imbalance between demand and supply.”

To resolve these challenges and issues, Director General Zhang suggested that, based on common discussion, mutual learning and concerted efforts, the following measures be taken to promote the development of ASEAN-China forestry: expanding the coverage rates of man-made forests and natural secondary forests to effectively conserve biological diversity by advancing sustainable management; boosting the reform of forest rights to enable local communities, women and younger generations to engage in forest management, which could reduce poverty and produce economic returns; stepping up efforts to combat against illegal transactions of wild animals and plants, and against illegal harvesting woods, so as to facilitate the legal utilization and trade; promoting both exchange cooperation and interest sharing of germplasm resources; pressing ahead with ASEAN-China forestry investment and production capacity cooperation, trade & technology cooperation; establishing a long-term cooperation mechanism aimed at ASEAN-China forestry on the basis of China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, CAFTA, and Greater Mekong Subregion economic cooperation, etc.

Preparations for the 13thCAEXPO

Mr. Zhang Jianlong， Director General of the State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China

Director General Zhang said that the 2nd ASEANChina Forestry Cooperation Forum themed “Safeguarding Forest Ecology; Increasing Green Benefits” would be continued during the 13th CAEXPO, in which representatives from ASEAN states would be invited to discuss the specifi c measures of strengthening forestry cooperation and responding to common challenges, with the aim of facilitating the communication among forestry departments of ASEAN states and China, signing MOUs on forestry ecology construction, biological diversity conservation, climate change, trade of forest products and so on, accelerating the establishment of long-term mechanism of the forum, and passing the Joint Declaration on ASEANChina Forestry Cooperation by virtue of CAEXPO.

In addition, the Forest & Wood Products Exhibition, the most signifi cant and large-scale exhibition centered on forestry under CAEXPO, is another major activity organized by China’s State Forestry Administration.

Driven by the previous sessions of China-ASEAN Forest & Wood Products Exhibition, economic and trade benefits have been produced, ASEAN-China forestry partnership improved, and headway has been made in forestry cooperation, which are attributed to ASEAN enterprises’ active engagement, the increase of well-known forestry enterprises and brands, the balance between exhibited products (such as redwood furniture, and bamboo & rattan products) and actual demands, as well as fascinating exchange activities, including forums, seminars, business-matching meetings, and wood culture displays or performances.

Looking ahead, as revealed by Director General Zhang, greater focus will be placed on ASEAN-China forestry cooperation mechanism, forestry project cooperation between ASEAN states and China’s domestic provinces or cities, ASEAN-China forestry production capacity transfer and technology upgrading, as well as the exhibition’ s appeal to enterprises concerned.