China-asean economic and trade cooperation: Sharing opportunities and achieving win-win results
Since the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN more than 30 years ago, China-Asean relations have become the most successful and dynamic example of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. China and ASEAN are linked by mountains and rivers, share common cultures and share a common future. Constantly tapping cooperation opportunities and upgrading the quality and level of cooperation has provided a steady source of impetus for the sustainable development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
The demand for win-win development continues to rise
Green and sustainable emerging industries are important areas of China-Asean cooperation.
In Indonesia, the Cilata floating photovoltaic project undertaken by a Chinese company is the first floating photovoltaic project in Indonesia and the largest in Southeast Asia, with a total installed capacity of 192 MW; Chinese investment is also promoting the sustainable development and utilization of nickel resources in Indonesia and supporting the production and manufacturing of local electric vehicle batteries.
"Indonesia and China have many common interests and cooperation points in low-carbon development." Pei Lianjie, Minister of the Indonesian Embassy in China, said that Indonesia actively promotes sustainable development and has identified green low-carbon development, digital transformation and other economic transformation strategies, which need to rely on more international cooperation to promote the realization. At present, Indonesia and China have carried out many projects in the field of environmentally related sustainable technologies, and hope to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of green smart cities.
The exchanges and cooperation between China and Indonesia in sustainability-related fields is an epitome of the new opportunities for China and ASEAN to seek common development.
As members of the global South, China and ASEAN share each other's development opportunities and huge potential for cooperation. At the Dialogue on Sustainable Development of Regional Economic and Trade Cooperation held in Beijing recently, Chinese and foreign guests said that deepening economic and trade cooperation is necessary for the development of China and ASEAN. The event was co-sponsored by Beijing Chaoyang District Government Foreign Affairs Office, Beijing Central Business District Administrative Committee, Globalization Think Tank and other participants offered suggestions on promoting sustainable development in the China-Asean region.
Chen Shiping, Special adviser to the Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, said that ASEAN, with its rich natural resources and demographic dividend, is one of the regions with the most vitality and potential for economic development in the world. Asean is the world's fifth largest economy, the world's third largest population, investment returns have a strong attraction, and constantly optimize the investment policy. China has taken the lead in the development of energy, manufacturing, digital economy and other fields, and has also made relevant investments in ASEAN. Asean expects foreign investment, including from China, to focus more on advanced manufacturing sectors such as new energy vehicles and automotive batteries.
Talking about how ASEAN can deepen trade and investment cooperation with China to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, Chen Shiping believes that ASEAN should do a good job in building a business environment, do a good job in training and reserving talents, and further improve infrastructure construction. In addition to working together to promote the hard connectivity of infrastructure, ASEAN also needs to bridge the gap in legal, digital and other soft connectivity, do a good job of coordination, and build a better legal framework, so that people and resources can flow more smoothly across borders.
Huo Jianguo, vice president of the Chinese WTO Studies Association, stressed that under the current complex international situation, China should make every effort to consolidate and strengthen economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN and build a new pattern of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. It is necessary to pay attention to the development of trade in services, and further promote the deep integration and development of China and ASEAN by accelerating the opening of trade in services.
Open, integrated and interconnected development
China and ASEAN have complementary advantages in resources and industries and can learn from each other's development experience. In the view of Sun Yi, director of the Comprehensive Coordination Department of the China-Asean Center, in the context of economic globalization, sustainable development provides strong support for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. In this regard, Sun Yi talked about three views.
Regional economic integration is deepening. Asean has been China's largest trading partner for four years in a row, and China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for many years in a row. The two sides are important sources and destinations of investment for each other. China has signed bilateral investment treaties with ten ASEAN countries, signed production capacity cooperation documents with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and jointly built industrial parks such as the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone in Cambodia, the China-Thailand Rayong Industrial Park in Thailand, and the Two Countries and Two Parks in China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our industrial chains and supply chains have become more closely linked. More than 90 percent of goods between China and ASEAN have been treated with zero tariffs. RCEP has taken full effect and negotiations on the 3.0 version of the China-Asean Free Trade Area have been actively advanced, which has continuously boosted regional economic and trade cooperation in a profound direction and brought about significant trade creation and investment driving effects.
Regional connectivity is getting closer. China and ASEAN have built a new logistics corridor on the Eurasian continent supported by direct rail and road transport, laying a hard connectivity foundation for deepening bilateral cooperation. The connectivity of the transport network will accelerate the construction of the Pan-Asian high-speed rail economic circle, and promote the economic advancement and regional economic integration process between China and ASEAN countries.
People-to-people exchanges boost regional economies. Due to our geographical proximity, close ethnic ties and cultural affinity, China-Asean comprehensive and practical cooperation enjoys a solid public support. The implementation of the mutual visa exemption policy and the establishment of the fast track for personnel and the green channel for goods have all played an important role in promoting the sustainable development of bilateral trade and economy.
As an important window for the international exchanges of the capital, as well as the frontier area of the international financial opening of the capital and the main carrying area of the international consumption center city, Beijing Chaoyang District is also actively building a platform to promote the strengthening of economic and trade exchanges with ASEAN countries. According to data provided by Zhang Guanbin, deputy head of Beijing's Chaoyang district, as of April this year, ASEAN countries have set up nearly 500 foreign-funded enterprises in the Chaoyang district, with a total investment of $5.5 billion. In the future, Chaoyang District will adhere to the principles of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win, and actively promote the international economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN and other countries to higher quality, deeper level and wider areas.
For the cooperation between Beijing and ASEAN, Sun Yi suggested that the two sides should focus on new quality productivity, focus on digital economy, green economy, strategic emerging industries and future industries, strengthen cooperation in the field of technological innovation, jointly build an open and innovative cooperation network, enhance regional industrial competitiveness, and create a new growth pole of economic cooperation.