China and ASEAN have written a new chapter of win-win cooperation

On November 27, President xi jinping in the 17th session of china-asean expo and china-asean business and investment summit at the opening ceremony's speech stressed that China deems the association of south-east Asian nations (asean) for the foreign priority and high quality to build "area" key areas, is willing to work with the association of south-east Asian nations (asean) to promote cooperation in various fields, maintain the good momentum of development and prosperity of the region, the construction of more closely the fate of China - asean community.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the completion of the China-Asean Free Trade Area. Over the past decade, under the upgraded china-asean "10+1" win-win model, bilateral trade has grown at a rapid pace, two-way investment has risen steadily, and economic and technological cooperation has deepened. The China-Asean FREE Trade Area has become one of the most dynamic and productive free trade areas in the world, which has greatly promoted the stability and prosperity of the world economy.

In 2002, China and ASEAN signed the Framework Agreement on comprehensive Economic Cooperation, marking the official launch of the China-Asean Free Trade Area. In January 2010, the China-Asean Free Trade Area was fully established. Since then, China and ASEAN have worked hand in hand to usher in a "golden decade" of bilateral cooperation.

The new trade tariff mechanism promoted by the China-Asean FREE Trade Area has reduced China's average tariff to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent previously, benefiting 1.9 billion people. Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN doubled from us $54.8 billion at the beginning of the establishment of the FTA in 2002 to US $641.5 billion in 2019, compared with US $292.8 billion in 2010. In the first three quarters of this year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN reached us $481.8 billion, up 5% year on year and accounting for one-seventh of China's total foreign trade in the same period. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years, and ASEAN became China's largest trading partner for the first time this year.

By the end of 2019, two-way investment between China and ASEAN had reached us $223 billion, and the overall structure is becoming more balanced. In the first three quarters of this year, China's direct investment in ASEAN countries reached us $10.7 billion, up 76.6% year on year, fully demonstrating the strong resilience and huge potential of China-asean cooperation.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Zhu Lin Lasanawi said that aseAN-China cooperative relations are sound and full of vitality. The bilateral trade and economy of Thailand and China have been growing continuously in the past decade, which is attributed to the establishment of china-asean Free Trade Area covering trade in goods and investment.

Vietnamese Minister of Trade and Industry Chen Junying said that the China-Asean FREE Trade Area has assisted and improved bilateral trade and investment between China and ASEAN, and contributed to promoting economic growth and prosperity in the region. "We hope that China and ASEAN will continue to work together to bring tangible benefits to regional and global economic stability and to the people and businesses of both sides."

"Ten years ago, tropical fruits from ASEAN could hardly be found in northern China. Now durian, mangosteen, longan and other fruits can be found in supermarkets all over China. Ten years ago, Chinese mobile phone brands were rare in ASEAN. Now, Chinese mobile phones are popular in ASEAN market, many of which are loaded with chips and other components produced by ASEAN countries. Ten years ago, a lot of border trade between China and ASEAN countries was settled through 'street Banks'. Now each side has set up bank branches to handle exchange transactions. "The FREE trade zone is a 'coupon' that gives people on both sides a sense of fulfillment and happiness." Li Chenggang, China's assistant minister of Commerce, described the FTZ's achievements in the past 10 years. He said it is important to implement the "Future Work Plan" for upgrading the Protocol, explore higher level of market access on the basis of the RCEP, add more topics of rules, and build more mutually beneficial, open and inclusive China-Asean economic and trade relations.

Zeng Jinsong, vice President of Charoen Pokphand Group of Thailand, said that China and ASEAN countries have strong economic complementarity and a high degree of resource matching. The China-Asean free Trade Area has a bright prospect for development, and countries in the region will have more attempts and better development.

In this regard, Professor Zhuang Guoren, dean of The Nanyang Research Institute of Xiamen University, believes that both China and ASEAN are the regions with the most dynamic and fastest economic development in the world, and the degree of economic development is highly complementary. The complementary resources and industries of China and ASEAN have enabled ASEAN to ride on the express train of China's economic development and injected strong impetus to bilateral trade. This complementary space has been expanding, leaving ample room for bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the post-epidemic era.

Since the beginning of this year, In response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on transnational trade, China and ASEAN countries have actively deepened cooperation. China and asean countries such as Singapore, Laos, myanmar, Indonesia established personnel "quick passage" and "green channel" of goods, restore direct international flights with Vietnam and other asean countries, and actively explore the establishment of China - asean and east Asia area "quick passage" and "green channel" network, promote the construction of regional financial safety net, maintaining regional supply chain, industry chain and financial stability.

In the field of service trade, the China International Service Trade Fair will provide more development opportunities for southeast Asian tourism and other service industries. In the field of digital economy, Chinese companies have provided technical support to ASEAN countries in fighting the epidemic, and cross-border e-commerce has helped Southeast Asian companies to open up the Chinese market. In the field of industrial and supply chain cooperation, ASEAN countries generally expect more Chinese enterprises to invest. In support of multilateralism and free trade, China and ASEAN have maintained close cooperation and jointly promoted the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP) within this year.

The upgrading of the China-Asean Free Trade Area and the formal signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will also take our cooperation and development to a new level.