Depth report

　　

On October 28th, the upgraded agreement for the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 was signed. Many regions across the country seized the new opportunities presented by the 3.0 version and actively promoted the empowerment of digital technology, the smoothness of supply and production chains, and the alignment of green standards.

Accelerating standard alignment: From "hard connectivity" to "soft connectivity"

On October 28th, after a "flight" of nearly 5 hours, over 30 tons of coconuts and durians arrived in Zhengzhou from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One year since the "air route" connecting Zhengzhou and Kuala Lumpur, spanning the heartland of China and the gateway to Southeast Asia, was launched, cargo flights have been increased to one per day, with a cumulative shipment of nearly 10,000 tons.

Currently, Zhengzhou Airport has 46 international and regional full cargo routes, reaching 18 countries that are part of the "Belt and Road Initiative".

The 3.0 version not only focuses on the cooperation in "hard connectivity" areas such as logistics and digital infrastructure between China and ASEAN, but also strengthens "soft connectivity" cooperation such as single windows and electronic bills of lading, improving system compatibility and reducing enterprise costs.

In Lanzhou, Gansu Province in the western part of China, personnel from a trading company submitted applications through the "single window" and printed out a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area origin certificate by themselves in less than half a day. With this "golden pass", enterprises can enjoy a 12% and 5% tariff reduction when exporting Huangni apples to Vietnam and Indonesia, which means zero tariffs entering the Southeast Asian market.

In addition to mutual recognition of origin certificates, the agreement also incorporates relevant regulations of the "single window" for international trade, enabling enterprises from both sides to make declarations through a "one-stop" platform and track the customs clearance process. This will further reduce enterprise costs, improve customs clearance efficiency, optimize the business environment, and inject new vitality into the economic and trade exchanges between both sides.

From "product export" to "industry export"

The ASEAN countries have abundant raw material resources, while China has a complete industrial processing system. The 3.0 version of the free trade agreement will further promote the deep integration of the production and supply chains between China and the ASEAN countries. Taking the rubber and tire industry chain as an example, in the first three quarters of this year, China's imports of rubber from the ASEAN region increased by 40.7%, and the exports of tire and other automotive parts rose by 19.8%. At the largest rubber import port in China, Qingdao, batches of rubber raw materials imported from Myanmar, Laos and other ASEAN countries enter the storage areas around the port and will enter the tire production lines after completing the customs procedures.

Rubber, as an important industrial raw material, can be widely used in the manufacturing of industrial products such as tires, conveyor belts, seals, rubber pipes, etc., and daily consumer goods, becoming the basic guarantee for many industrial chains in China.

With sufficient imported rubber as the raw material support, a complete rubber and tire processing industrial cluster has been formed in Qingdao and its surrounding areas. Here, rubber is processed into various tires, and then exported to the ASEAN countries to support the local related industries.

In recent years, the resilience of the China-ASEAN industrial and supply chain has significantly strengthened. While enterprises are accelerating their overseas expansion, they are moving from "product export" to "industry export", forming a globalized industrial layout.

Green economic cooperation leads to regional sustainable development.

Green economy is an important cooperation area in the 3.0 version of the free trade agreement. China's leading technologies in areas such as new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products have provided a solid foundation for production capacity cooperation with ASEAN and further promoted the green economic development of ASEAN countries.

At the largest automobile roll-on/roll-off terminal in South China, Guangzhou Nansha Automobile Port, 1,483 domestic new energy vehicles entered the ocean-going roll-on/roll-off ships in an orderly manner and then set off for Singapore to facilitate local green travel. In the first three quarters of this year, the Nansha Customs supervised the export of over 300,000 roll-on/roll-off vehicles, an increase of 55.4% year-on-year.

The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol has for the first time clearly defined green economy and new energy, and both sides have established eight priority cooperation areas such as green trade, green investment, and circular economy, which will provide important support for building a regional economic green engine and achieving high-quality development.

In Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, after two system alerts from "Didi", a batch of lithium battery export dangerous goods packaging use appraisal certificates had been generated. From the submission of the application by the enterprises to the issuance of the certificates, the entire process took only 20 minutes.

During the import and export process, lithium batteries are classified as dangerous goods and require a license to be on the road. The "three-part" reform launched by the Gongbei Customs, which includes "enterprise classification, risk grading, and management stratification", has promoted the realization of safe and efficient supervision of dangerous goods, including lithium batteries.

The 3.0 version of the free trade agreement has clearly defined key concepts such as "green economy" and "new energy", laying a institutional foundation for green economic cooperation. In the future, trade in new energy products, alignment of green labels, and in-depth industrial cooperation will contribute "Asian wisdom" and "Asian solutions" to the global green transformation.