A new book China-ASEAN Studies from Multiple Perspectives, issued under the general editorship of Qin Hongzeng, director of the editorial department at the journal of Guangxi University for Nationalities, and published by Ethnic Publishing House in 2012, provides us with various perspectives from which to view the relationship between China and ASEAN.

The book analyzes the new vision of multiregional cooperation brought about by recent evolutions between China and ASEAN.

Economically, the book discusses the development and obstacles to trade and economic exchanges, as well as looking at future prospects for industrial cooperation.

Culturally, the book looks in-depth at the traditional culture of countries such as Vietnam and Myanmar.

It also seeks to break down boundaries between these countries, and employs the tags of nationalities, languages and literary works to discuss the cultural exchanges in the region.

From the perspective of education and training, the book tries to seek the possibility of cooperative education and transnational training in Southeast Asia.

This book sets up Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as an example to analyze cooperation in these fields.

Guangxi is bordered by Vietnam in the southwest and the Gulf of Tonkin to the south. The location gives it more opportunities to cooperate with ASEAN.

"Putting aside disputes" has long been advocated by China as a slogan to guide the relationship between China and Southeast Asian countries. However, in actual practice, it seems that many exchanges between the two sides have been hijacked by disputes while cooperation has fallen by the wayside.

As regarding sovereignty, the book states that no concessions can be made on matters of principle. However, on the level of regional communication, maybe it is really time to temporarily forget disputes and seek pragmatic cooperation with ASEAN countries.

Due to cultural similarities and geographical proximity, cooperation and joint development are more easily conducted within ASEAN countries. We should pay more attention to cooperation with these countries, or the slogan of "putting aside disputes" may change to "putting aside China" in Southeast Asia.