(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Records of the "epidemic" of economic warfare: China and ASEAN "power of cooperation"

China News Agency, Beijing, April 8 Telegram: "Epidemiology" of Economic Warfare: "Great Cooperation Power" between China and ASEAN

China News Agency reporter Wei Xi

"I think the most important issue for governments of all countries is how to ensure the smooth progress of commercial activities while jointly preventing and controlling them," said Poshawan, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Lao Embassy in China.

On the 8th, the forum on "Conquering the Epidemic: China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Cooperation" was held. The representatives of the relevant countries of China and ASEAN discussed in the form of online video around the promotion of economic and trade cooperation and the joint defeat of the epidemic.

In his speech, Poshawan said that the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic in 2020 posed serious challenges to the global economy, and Laos, like many other countries, was severely affected by the economy. Now, SMEs in Laos, especially those engaged in tourism and agriculture-related businesses, are the most affected. He suggested that all countries should make efforts to achieve epidemic prevention and control and economic development "at the same time."

Dan Zhibin, Commercial Counselor of the Thai Embassy in China, said that Thailand ’s new coronary pneumonia epidemic is becoming more and more serious, resulting in a shortage of anti-epidemic medical supplies. The Chinese government, as an old friend of Thailand and a comprehensive strategic partner, expressed its friendly wishes to Thailand in a timely manner. Helping hands, the Thai side expresses its sincere thanks.

Dan Zhibin said that according to the research report of the National Bank of Thailand, Thailand ’s export and tourism industries have been hit hard by the new crown pneumonia epidemic. International tourists have decreased by 60%, and Thailand ’s GDP is expected to shrink by 5.3% by 2020.

"The spread of the epidemic has a major impact on the economic and trade activities of various countries. The future recovery of each country depends on factors such as the duration of the epidemic, government support policies, and the ability of practitioners to adjust themselves." Dan Zhibin said.

Xu Ningning, executive director of the China-ASEAN Business Council, believes that strengthening China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation is an important measure to overcome the new crown epidemic.

Xu Ningning said that ASEAN countries have recently implemented economic supporting policies to deal with the epidemic, including fiscal and taxation policies, policies to support small and medium-sized enterprises, labor and manpower policies, and industry subsidy policies, etc., in an effort to reduce the impact of the epidemic on the economy and society. A few days ago, the central banks of major Southeast Asian countries jointly stated that they will strengthen coordinated actions to promote economic growth.

Xu Ningning said that from January to February this year, ASEAN has historically become China's largest trading partner. At the moment, strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation is an important measure to overcome the new coronary pneumonia epidemic. The two sides have strong economic and trade complementarity. In the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” and the support of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area policy, the economic cycle in the neighboring area will be earlier than the global cycle, which is also an interdependent choice among the countries in the region.

Xu Ningning believes that the impact of the epidemic on the economies of China and ASEAN countries depends not only on the duration of the global epidemic and the changes it brings, but also on the effectiveness of China and ASEAN countries ’own prevention and control measures, including mutual Degree of cooperation.

Xu Ningning said that the trade and industrial chain of some major products between China and ASEAN have close relations with external countries (regions), especially developed countries in the US and Europe. There are still many uncertainties in the current world epidemic situation. We cannot wait for this and should make up for the shortcomings.

He believes that the current economic measures implemented by both China and ASEAN to deal with the epidemic need to strengthen docking, coordination, and cooperation, and the cooperation force is large. The joint construction of the “Belt and Road” between China and ASEAN countries should combine the fight against the epidemic, and implement targeted, innovative, and meticulous cooperation. Fighting the epidemic should be the primary task of the two sides to build the “Belt and Road” this year. Increase the formulation and implementation of economic countermeasures against the epidemic at the government, chamber of commerce, and enterprise levels. According to the special situation of epidemic prevention and control, cooperation in the fields of finance, transportation, customs, inspection and quarantine shall be implemented.

In the cooperation between China and ASEAN countries to fight against the epidemic, Chinese enterprises are promising. Xu Ningning suggested that the severity of the epidemic in the ten ASEAN countries varies, and the impact of the epidemic on different industries is different. Enterprises of the two sides can adjust their business strategies to implement cooperation, such as agricultural development cooperation and new product development cooperation. (Finish)