Asian Economic Integration - Perspectives from a Chinese Scholar

Since the 1990s, regional economic integration has become an unstoppable trend throughout the world. As the most telling feature of that, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have expanded explosively in the past fifteen years (see figure 1). According to the latest WTO data, the number of RTAs of all kinds (including those in implementation or to be signed) had reached almost 300 by the end of 2005. 250 of them have been notified to WTO, among which 130 were notified after January 1995, with most signed recently. So far, 173 RTAs have been notified to WTO and taken effect. It is assessed that there are still over 70 RTAs which havent been notified to WTO but about to come into effect.Asian Economic Integration

China and ASEAN have forged solid ties since they established a dialogue 15 years ago, and their strategic partnership seems likely to expand in the future

This year marks the 15thanniversary of the dialogue relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and is also the Year of China-ASEAN Friendly Cooperation. Under an agreement reached at the Ninth China-ASEAN Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2005, the two sides endorsed a list of commemorative activities to celebrate the anniversary, one of which is a summit in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on October 30, which will be attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of ASEAN member states. At that time, the Third China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit will also be held in the city.China, ASEAN, strategic partnership

Leaders of Asia-Pacific economies differ on the formation of a free trade area

The 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting was held in Hanoi, Viet Nam on November 18-19 under the theme of Toward a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity. The theme conveys two messages : One is to enhance trade and investment in a rapidly changing world, the other is to promote community links, economic growth and sustainable development.China, ASEAN, strategic partnership, free trade area

ASEAN a rising power

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is getting increasingly assertive as a player in regional and world arenas. The group, which includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia and Brunei, has focused on economic integration since as the 1990s. In 2003, it set the goal of forging the "ASEAN Community" by 2020. Furthermore, ASEAN sponsored the first East Asian Summit at the end of last year, gauging the qualifications of the participating nations with three preconditions : the participants must be ASEAN's dialogue partners, they must have joined the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation in Southeast Asia and they must have substantial relations with ASEAN.ASEAN, rising power, International Agreements

Historical and Contemporary Relations between the Peoples of Southeast Asia and China - Enhancing Future Collaboration among ASEAN and Chinese Youths

Today Im very pleased and honored to attend the ASEAN-China Lecture Series as a Chinese representative and enjoy the friendly atmosphere of China-ASEAN cooperation. This year is the 15thanniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership, as well as the Year of China-ASEAN Friendly Cooperation. A series of activities will be held by both China and ASEAN. This lecture is one of the activities. As I indicated in the title of this lecture, I will be mainly talk about communication among the peoples of China and Southeast Asia, especially communication between the youth.China, ASEAN, strategic partnership

China's good terms and prosperity with ASEAN

The 15 years since dialogue was established between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have witnessed steadily improving relations between the two sides. ASEAN, founded in 1967, includes Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei. Despite being close neighbours, China and ASEAN did not have official relations until 1991, due largely to the negative influence of the Cold War. China and ASEAN's member countries are all developing nations, and therefore share many common interests. As the Cold War came to an end, the two sides put economic development and maintenance of regional stability on top of their agenda. In this scenario, the two sides had the intention for dialogue and co-operation.China, ASEAN, strategic partnership

Is This Asia’s Century? Boao Forum for Asia will actively explore Asia’s new global role at its annual conference

ECONOMIC ENGINE : Chinas continuous high-speed development is to further consolidate the status of Asia in the world. As a non-governmental, non-profit organization aimed at facilitating high-level dialogue between government and business leaders from across the region, Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) will play host to state leaders and almost 1,000 senior government officials, business leaders and scholars from April 22 to 24. This years Annual Conference of Boao Forum, with Asia Searching for Win-Win : New Role of Asia as its central theme, is expected to hear a wide range of issues related to exploration of Asias new role in the world. Discussion on the state of Asias economy after the disastrous tsunami is also high on the agenda.Asia, Tsunami, New Century, Boao Forum, Asian Century

Elevated temperature erosion studies on some materials for high temperature applications

The surface degradation of materials due to high temperature erosion or combined erosion-corrosion is a serious problem in many industrial and aeronautical applications. As such, it has become an important design consideration in many situations. The materials investigated in the present studies are stainless steels, Ti-6Al-4V, alumina ceramics, with and without silicate glassy phase, and zirconia. These are some of the potential materials for use in the high temperature erosive-corrosive environments;The erosion or erosion-corrosion experiments were performed in a high temperature sand-blast type of test rig. The variables studied included the temperature, material composition, heat treatment condition, impingement velocity and angle, erodent concentration, etc. The morphological features of the eroded or eroded-corroded surfaces, substrate deformation, and oxide characteristics were studied by optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis. The scratch test, single ball impact, and indentation tests were used to understand the behavior of oxide film in particle impacts;Based on these investigations, the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the mechanical or combined mechanical and chemical actions in erosion was developed. The analysis focused on the interactions among factors such as the temperature-dependent properties of materials, microstructure including the role of multiple phases in ceramics, high temperature erosion characteristics, cracking fracture of ceramics, oxidation rate, and the composition, structure, and properties of oxide scales. The enhanced corrosion rate from erosion damage, the effect of corrosion on material mass loss, and enhanced erosion rate at high temperatures were interpreted in terms of the above factors;This dissertation is composed of five major parts which present various aspects of high temperature erosion and erosion-corrosion based on the investigations on the three kinds of materials for high temperature applications;PARTS I and II are the investigations of high temperature erosion-corrosion behavior of ferritic, austenitic, martensitic and precipitation hardening stainless steels. PART III deals with SEM studies of the material damage in alumina ceramics by single and multiple particle impacts. PART IV extends the above studies on alumina ceramics to high temperature environment. PART V covers the high temperature erosion-corrosion behavior of Ti-6Al-4V. In contrast to other materials studied in this thesis, the titanium alloy undergoes rapid oxidation at elevated temperatures

Radiation Effects in Apatite and High Entropy Alloy under Energetic Ions and Electrons

Radiation effects in apatite and high entropy alloy under energetic ions and electrons are studied in this doctoral dissertation to develop advanced crystalline ceramic waste forms and nuclear structural materials. Apatite is proposed as a ceramic waste form for the immobilization of radionuclides, but its performance is strongly affected by the irradiation of the incorporated radionuclides. It is thus important to understand the radiation effects in apatite structure and the underlying physics. Effects of chemical composition, grain size, interfacial structure, as well as radiation conditions on the microstructural evolution, phase transformation and damage mechanisms of apatite under alpha-decay and beta-decay events, simulated by 1 MeV Kr ions and 200 keV electrons respectively, are investigated. Composition effect on silicate apatite shows the better radiation tolerance under higher cerium content. Size effect on hydroxyapatite exhibits the reduction of radiation stability with the decrease of grain size due to excess surface energy in nanoparticles. A further study addresses densified nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite exhibits higher radiation tolerance than the same sized hydroxyapatite nanoparticle as a result of lower interface energy. Effect of radiation conditions on the recrystallization behaviors of pre-amorphized hydroxyapatite is also studied. In-situ TEM observation reveals a rapid recrystallization process and a notable size effect, which smaller sized sample nucleates and fully recrystallizes under lower electron fluence. Recrystallization mechanism is attributed to ionization process as a result of breaking and reforming of dangling bonds. The radiation effect study is further extended to include high entropy alloys intended as structural materials in advanced nuclear reactors. Two types of high entropy alloys are selected as model alloys to investigate the irradiation-induced behaviors under 1 MeV Krions. Study on nanocrystalline AlxCoCrFeNi alloys shows a notable ion-irradiation-induced grain growth, whose mechanisms are attributed to a disorder-driven mechanism for the initial fast increase of grain size and defect-stimulated mechanism for the later slow grain size increase, elucidated by the thermal spike model. Study on HfNbTaTiVZr alloy reveals a crystal-to-amorphous phase transformation with critical amorphization dose of 2 displacements per atom (dpa) at 298 K, while the amorphization is suppressed when the temperature increases to 423 K

RESEARCH ON ACOUSTIC LANDSCAPE OF LAKEFRONT TOURISM AREAS: A CASE STUDY OF HANGZHOU CITY, CHINA

Urban open spaces are important for improvement in urban living quality. Traditional research on open spaces mainly focuses on spatial forms and visual esthetics to analyze environmental quality, but lacks of adequate consideration regarding acoustic elements. In the field of the acoustic environment, people pay much attention to interior sound quality design and noise pollution. In order to provide a new viewpoint for urban design and to reinforce design methods, herein, the concept of soundscape was introduced. In this survey, the types and the features of lakefront soundscapes, as well as visitors' spatial distribution were observed. 13 pairs of sound and image scenarios were presented to 112 subjects at a tourism city, Hangzhou, China. The sounds and images used were of real settings in lakefront scenic areas. Affective response was measured in terms of pleasure. Through the evaluation on the influence of the interaction between visual and acoustic stimuli on perception of the environment, it is proved that there is a need to identify places where the conservation of the sound environment is essential, due to the drastic impact of the loss of sound quality or its salient informational content on human appreciation, especially in theme spaces, and folk-custom landscapes. Moreover, the coherence between sound and image influences human preferences, since coherent combinations are rated higher than the mean of the component stimuli. As a result, the spatial partition of soundscape is also necessary with the movement of the visual images. Finally, some design guidelines regarding soundscape are proposed with the illustrations of four typical lakefront spots