China-ASEAN trade and economic ties deepen

Impact of expo, summit shows building community of shared future will benefit the world

Coffee, rice, dried fruits, tableware, wooden furniture and self-driving or automated vehicles were among the broad array of products displayed at the latest edition of the China-ASEAN Expo and the concurrent China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

Held in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, both online and offline from Sept 10 to 13, the 18th edition of the event was a full reflection of the achievements of the continuously deepening all-round economic and trade cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as the bright prospects for China-ASEAN economic and trade ties, said experts and business leaders.

A total of 148 economic and trade promotion activities and 26 high-level forums were held covering industrial chains, industrial capacity cooperation, customs and health, data from the organizer showed.

Themed "Sharing Opportunities Created by the New Land-Sea Corridor, Building the China-ASEAN Community with a Shared Future", the expo attracted enterprises from more than 40 countries and regions, including the ASEAN member countries and 30 Belt and Road economies such as Spain, France and Russia with special events to mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.

The exhibition occupied a total space of about 102,000 square meters and some 5,400 booths were set up for offline exhibitors. More than 1,500 enterprises participated in the in-person exhibitions, and the exhibition area for foreign countries was about 20,000 square meters, up 13.4 percent year-on-year, among which ASEAN counties took up 12,000 square meters.

Deals signed at the expo hit a record-high of over 300 billion yuan ($46.55 billion), marking an increase of 13.7 percent over the previous edition.

Zhang Jianping, director-general of the China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said the expo, initiated while China and ASEAN were in talks to establish the China-ASEAN free trade area, was a major international exhibition platform for China.

"It plays a vital role in policy-related communication and coordination between China and ASEAN member countries for them to form new industrial and supply chains and bridge supply and demand for investment and trade, as well as promote communications in various aspects and areas such as culture, education and environmental protection," Zhang said.

As 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed trade between China and ASEAN has surged by 85 fold in the past three decades.

China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, and ASEAN also became China's largest trading partner in 2020. During the first eight months of this year, their trade with each other surged 33.3 percent year-on-year to $553.92 billion, accounting for 14.5 percent of China's total foreign trade during the period.