Despite its traditional distrust of security regimes, China became a founding member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994, the first regional-level multilateral discussion on peace and security issues in the Asia-Pacific. Additionally, Beijing has established military ties with Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia. This extends not only to military aid and loans, bilateral talks on military issues and the signing of memorandums of understanding on defense, but also includes joint production of military equipment and joint training exercises. During 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 vitality of the Forum and achieving continuous development should be the main objectives of the ARF. forward. 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 may be persuaded that the strategic future of the region could be co-determined with China. The China-ASEAN strategic relationship, however, is not always all sunshine and rainbows. There remain serious problems between China and Southeast Asia that affected their relations in the 1990s and will continue to complicate their relations. The most important of all is the South China Sea dispute. Beijing claimed to have f...... middle of paper ...... Shishi chubanshe, 2003).“ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations”.David Arase, “Non-Traditional Security in China-ASEAN Cooperation: L 'Institutionalization of Regional Security Cooperation and the Evolution of East Asian Regionalism', Asian Survey, Vol. 50, No. 4 (July/August 2010) (pp. 808-833), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/as.2010.50.4.808, last accessed March 22, 2012. China's Foreign Affairs 2006 published from the Department of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC (World Affairs Press, 2006), p.413-416. “Vietnam: Better defense cooperation to help build ASEAN community,” Thai Press Reports, (30 April 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, accessed on March 22 2012.