Continuously exploring new highlights of China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation

The recent results of China's foreign trade in the first half of the year are very impressive, with the import and export scale exceeding 21 trillion yuan for the first time in history, reaching a new high. Especially with the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), China's imports and exports to ASEAN increased by 10.5% year-on-year, which is remarkable. The 2024 China ASEAN Economic and Trade Cooperation Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") recently released by the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee believes that in the more than two years since the implementation of regional opening-up in RCEP, China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation has shown a closer, more active, comprehensive, and in-depth development situation.

The report shows that China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation is showing ten major trends:

One is the increasing demand for cooperation and development between China and ASEAN. Faced with the severe international situation and increasing challenges, the demand for cooperation and development between China and ASEAN is on the rise. Driven by the development of China ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", the construction of the ASEAN Economic Community and other active cooperation, China ASEAN economic integration will be higher, the interests will be more relevant, and joint development will be achieved through joint growth.

Secondly, institutional openness creates more favorable conditions for both parties to open up and cooperate. The upgrading of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area and the implementation of RCEP contribute to regional economic integration. The benefits of market opening for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises have attracted much attention. Institutional innovation requires enterprises to innovate their operations, and the demand for enterprises to improve their international cooperation quality is increasing day by day.

The importance of industrial cooperation is becoming increasingly prominent. Strengthening communication on industrial planning, coordinating industrial policies, and constructing industrial parks is becoming an effective measure for both sides to consolidate and develop the industrial chain, enhance its resilience, and achieve industrial upgrading. The docking between the industry associations of both sides will become increasingly active, and they will play an increasingly active role in the industrial cooperation between the two sides with their own advantages.

Fourthly, the scale of bilateral trade will grow faster, and supply chain cooperation will become closer. Both sides are accelerating the flow of various production factors within the region through the development of trade, making trade facilitation cooperation more important and further optimizing the trade structure. The cooperation in service trade and e-commerce between the two sides will unleash more new business opportunities. This requires companies to use many bilateral free trade agreements and enhance their market development capabilities.

Fifth, investment cooperation is showing a hot trend. Bilateral investment will grow faster, especially as Chinese companies' investment in ASEAN is booming. Building a convenient, transparent, and fair investment environment is becoming increasingly important. Ensure that major cooperative investment projects between both parties have a flagship role in operation. Digital economy, green economy, new energy, and sustainable development are becoming investment hotspots. The momentum of Chinese enterprises investing in ASEAN countries and utilizing their foreign trade policies to expand into broader international markets remains undiminished.

Sixth, the interconnection between the two sides is becoming increasingly close. The cooperation between the two sides in areas such as infrastructure construction, transportation, customs clearance, and economic corridors is providing increasingly favorable conditions for regional economic integration. The role of interconnectivity in supporting the development of economic and trade complementarity and expanding cooperation space between the two sides has increased.

Seventh, the areas of cooperation will be more comprehensive. Cooperation in areas such as customs, commodity inspection, finance, technology, standards, intellectual property, and environmental protection will become increasingly close. The stabilizing and catalytic role of financial cooperation in economic growth and cooperation between both parties is increasingly strengthened.

Eighth, the cooperation among countries in the Lancang Mekong River Basin is playing an increasingly positive role in promoting the overall level of regional economic development, building the ASEAN community, and enhancing regional cooperation. Chinese enterprises will participate more in sub regional economic cooperation within ASEAN.

The ninth is to enhance cultural exchanges and cooperation, build a favorable social foundation, and play an increasingly important role in promoting common economic growth between the two sides. The cooperation between the two sides in tourism, culture, education, sports, youth, media, think tanks, etc. will continue to enrich and deepen, while bringing more new business opportunities in tourism economy, cultural industry, education industry, and so on.

Political mutual trust will be even more important as a prerequisite for achieving common economic growth between both sides. The closer the political relationship between the two sides and the higher the level of political mutual trust, the greater the development achievements brought by economic cooperation. The interaction and mutual promotion between politics and economy will achieve effective win-win development.

China has comprehensively deepened its reform and opening up, continuously injecting new vitality into the construction of the China ASEAN community of shared future. Currently, there is a trend of increasing challenges and rising demand for cooperation and development between China and ASEAN. Both sides should focus on implementing multilateral and bilateral cooperation consensus, including the Action Plan for the China ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and innovate to promote pragmatic cooperation to improve quality and efficiency. Xu Ningning, Chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, said that both sides should actively take measures to address some new situations and problems in China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.

To this end, the report proposes the following suggestions: firstly, continuously improve the level of China ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, jointly create a more stable and secure regional environment, and focus on creating a good business environment. The second is to promote institutional openness, implement RCEP with high quality, and complete the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 negotiations as soon as possible. The third is to seize the opportunity of emerging industries, expand cooperation in emerging fields such as digital transformation, clean energy, and artificial intelligence, and make the momentum of cooperation stronger. The fourth is to improve the supporting system, coordinate rules and standards, and enhance cooperation in finance, taxation, customs, and other areas. The fifth is to increase the construction of logistics channels, economic corridors, and interconnectivity, providing favorable conditions for stable and smooth regional industrial and supply chains. Sixth, establish economic and trade cooperation platforms and industrial cooperation mechanisms, set up enterprise service centers in ASEAN countries, and provide trade and investment consulting services. Seventh, enterprises should comply with laws and regulations in their operations and improve their risk prevention and control level. Eighth, we will promote high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" between China and ASEAN countries, and further create a model of international regional cooperation and a highlight of world economic growth.