Despite its traditional distrust of security regimes, China became one of the founding members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994 – the first debate multilateral at the regional level on peace and security issues in China. Asia-Pacific. Beijing has further established military ties with Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia. This not only extends to military aid and loans, bilateral negotiations on military issues and signing of defense memorandums of understanding, but also includes joint production of military equipment and training exercises spouses. At the 12th ARF Foreign Ministers Meeting in 2005, Chinese Ambassador Liu Yongxing said that deepening mutual trust, respecting diversity, properly managing relations with other institutions , maintaining the vitality of the Forum and achieving continued development should be the main objectives of the ARF. Before. In 2006, China also signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), in which it promised not to threaten the security of other signatory states (ASEAN), to express China's intention to establish a strategic partnership with ASEAN for peace and prosperity. China is also willing to support ASEAN's declaration of Southeast Asia as a nuclear-weapon-free zone. With continued convergence of norms and growing trust, ASEAN could be confident that the region's strategic future could be co-determined with China. The China-ASEAN strategic relationship, however, is not always a bed of roses. Serious problems remain between China and Southeast Asia, which affected their relationship in the 1990s and will continue to complicate their relationship. The biggest of all is the South China Sea dispute. Beijing argued that it had... middle of paper...... Shishi chubanshe, 2003).“ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations”.David Arase, “Non-Traditional Security in China-ASEAN Cooperation: The institutionalization of regional security cooperation and the evolution of regionalism in East Asia”, Asian Survey, Vol. 50, No. 4 (July/August 2010) (pp. 808-833), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/as.2010.50.4.808, accessed March 22, 2012. China's Foreign Affairs 2006 published by the Department of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC (World Affairs Press, 2006), p.413-416. “Vietnam: Better defense cooperation to help build the ASEAN community,” reports the Thai press, (April 30, 2010). “China's National Defense in 2008”, Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, (Beijing, January 20, 2009) http://www.china.org.cn/government/whitepaper/node_7060059.htm , consulted in March 22 2012.