China ASEAN Economic and Trade Cooperation Is Deeper and More Real
As enterprises in the region became more aware of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and improved their ability to apply it, the ASEAN market became the largest source of China's foreign trade orders in the third quarter. According to the latest survey report on foreign trade situation in the third quarter released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the top three markets for new orders of Chinese foreign trade enterprises in the current quarter were ASEAN, the European Union and the United States, accounting for 30.6%, 30.55% and 25.29% respectively. This is also the first time that ASEAN has become the largest source market for new orders from foreign trade enterprises.
The favorable weather and location, political and commercial links, strong economic and trade complementarities between China and ASEAN, and the regional advantages of cooperation and the support of connectivity have all made the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN continue to deepen this year.
Multi field economic and trade cooperation continued to deepen
ASEAN continues to maintain China's position as the largest trading partner. From January to August, the trade between China and ASEAN maintained growth, reaching US $627.58 billion, up 13.3% year on year. Among them, China's exports to ASEAN reached 364.08 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%; China's imports from ASEAN reached 263.5 billion US dollars, up 5.8% year on year. In the first eight months, China ASEAN trade accounted for 15% of China's total foreign trade, compared with 14.5% in the same period last year. It can be predicted that with the continued release of policy dividends from RCEP, China and ASEAN will surely usher in more opportunities and reap greater momentum to comprehensively deepen economic and trade cooperation.
With the continuous improvement of trade liberalization and facilitation between the two sides, the agricultural trade between China and ASEAN is getting bigger and bigger. According to overseas statistics, Vietnam's aquatic products exports to China in the first seven months were about 1 billion US dollars, up 71% year on year; In the first half of the year, Thailand exported 1.124 million tons of fresh fruits to China, up 10% year on year. In addition, the varieties of agricultural products are also expanding. Since this year, Vietnam Passion Fruit and Durian have been included in the list of imported goods in China.
Mechanical equipment has become a hot spot in the trade growth between China and ASEAN. With the gradual recovery of the ASEAN economy, the demand for machinery and equipment in the Southeast Asian market is also growing. In the first seven months of this year, China's mechanical and electrical products ranked first among similar imported products from ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
It is worth noting that the implementation of such free trade agreements as RCEP has injected strong impetus into China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, demonstrating the broad prospects and unlimited potential of bilateral trade. China and ASEAN countries are important members of RCEP, which is the largest trade group in the world; The China ASEAN Free Trade Area is considered to be an important pillar of bilateral relations. These platforms can be committed to establishing constructive relations and strengthening cooperation in China ASEAN and jointly building a common future.
Digital economic cooperation is in the ascendant
China and ASEAN are each other's largest foreign trade partners, among which the digital economy industry and its enterprise cooperation have played a positive role. Smart cities, 5G, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, big data, blockchain, telemedicine, etc. are all new highlights of China ASEAN cooperation.
The reporter noted that in the past two years, cross-border e-commerce has rapidly grown into a star of new business forms and models in China ASEAN cooperation, effectively hedging the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on trade. At present, Asia Pacific is the region with the best performance of cross-border e-commerce in the world, accounting for 53.6% of the global market scale. China and ASEAN are the key cities of cross-border e-commerce. Statistics show that in the first half of the year, China's cross-border e-commerce exports to ASEAN increased by 98.5%.
In particular, in the context of the current protracted epidemic, the new "non-contact" economic demand has created unlimited business opportunities for transnational digital cooperation. According to data analysis, ASEAN e-commerce sales will reach 38.2 billion US dollars this year. It is estimated that by 2025, the scale of ASEAN e-commerce will increase from US $100 billion to US $300 billion. Countries support the development of transnational e-commerce by formulating policies and regulations. For example, RCEP has specially set up a chapter of "e-commerce" to demonstrate the importance of e-commerce in regional open development. The RCEP E-Commerce chapter is the first multilateral e-commerce rule achievement with comprehensive scope and high level reached in the Asia Pacific region. In addition, ASEAN is implementing the ASEAN Digital Integration Framework Action Plan 2019-2025, which confirms its determination and strength to attach great importance to the development of the digital economy.
Looking forward to the future, green energy, digital electromechanical and digital mining are the priorities of RCEP countries in terms of integration of digital technology and real economy, and China and ASEAN will certainly have a broader space for cooperation.