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dmitting that people in the region lack trust in China, Beijing is planning to promote more cultural exchanges and experiences to better connect China with ASEAN member countries at the grassroots level.

Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Huang Xilian said that despite frequent exchanges of people between the regions, mutual trust had not been established on the personal level because a hiatus in political relations between China and several ASEAN countries before the 1990s had created a gap in understanding.

The lull ended in 1990 when Jakarta reconciled with Beijing after 23 years, which then was followed by Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. Malaysia and Thailand had earlier reestablished relations with China.

“Frequent visits do not mean we have better understanding. A lot of ASEAN people visit China and vice versa, but sometimes they do not understand the respective cultures,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday evening.

He added that, annually, about 50 million visits were made back and forth by Chinese and ASEAN citizens.

The Singapore-based ASEAN Studies Center, part of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) — Yusof Ishak Institute, released the results of a survey on Jan. 7 that revealed that China’s rise in ASEAN has been met with distrust.

According to the survey, which involved 1,008 respondents drawn from the region’s academic think tanks, governments, businesses, civil society groups and media, Southeast Asians see Chinese economic and political preeminence in Asia as inevitable, but they are not convinced that Beijing would use its newfound powers for the benefit of global peace, security, prosperity and governance.

In response to that, Huang claimed that compared to before the 1990s, when most ASEAN countries did not allow their people to go to China or Chinese people to enter ASEAN member states, mutual trust existed, but it was not strong enough to recognize the common values of all parties amid the current global uncertainties.

“On the part of the government, we have to work even harder just to bring them together, to have a better understanding. That is why we try to present ourselves in a far better perspective for people to understand each other,” he said.

In light of that, he said Beijing had prepared a series of activities, as well as facilities, in the hope of promoting better connections among people.

For instance, during the 21st China-ASEAN Summit in Singapore in November 2018, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the bloc’s leaders agreed on making 2019 the year of media exchanges in which Beijing and its ASEAN counterparts aim to hold several key initiatives, including a journalist exchange program and a China-ASEAN Media Summit.

To begin the agenda, the Chinese Mission to ASEAN launched on Monday evening a documentary series depicting 10 inspiring stories of Indonesians set in the mesmerizing nature and cultures of the archipelago.

The documentary is to also feature cultures and stories from people in the bloc’s other member countries. The next is to be about the Philippines.

China opened in 2018 an ASEAN-themed amusement park called the FantaWild Asian Legend Theme Park in Nanning, a Chinese city next to the Vietnamese border, according to the city’s vice mayor He Ying, who attended the documentary launch.

Nanning also has the China (Nanning) International Garden Expo Park, which opened in December 2018 with an ASEAN Garden as its highlight, as well as the China-ASEAN Information Harbor and the China-ASEAN Smart City Innovation Center.

In addition to those, Nanning has held various events showcasing the cultures of China and the Southeast Asian countries.

Separately, ASEAN’s deputy secretary-general for the political and security community, Hoang Anh Tuan, told the Post that the culture-related engagements were very important for both ASEAN and China to “make sure we know each other more” and understand what was going on in the countries.

“We have to acknowledge the importance of understanding each other’s cultures, identities and languages and have regular contact so we can have a better understanding of each other,” he added.