Witness of the 18-year-old: Looking at the changes in China-ASEAN cooperation from the China-ASEAN Expo
Xinhua News Agency, Nanning, September 12 -
Question: eighteen witness - look at China from the East Fair - become ASEAN cooperation
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Junwei, Yu Jiaxin, Pan Qiang, Xu Haitao
Meet the mountains and the sea, and win-win cooperation.
On September 10, the four-day 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit were grandly opened in Nanning, Guangxi.
The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was established, China and ASEAN were each other’s largest trading partners, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) was officially signed... Over the past 18 years, from serving the construction of the Free Trade Area to assisting in the creation of an “upgraded version”, Promoting the “Belt and Road” initiative to take root in ASEAN countries to promote the early implementation of RCEP, the CAEXPO witnessed that China-ASEAN relations have gradually become the most successful and dynamic model of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation.
Constantly expanding space: from "free trade zone" to "one belt and one road"
"In the past 18 years, the role of the China-ASEAN Expo platform has become more and more prominent, and China-ASEAN cooperation has also been flourishing and fruitful." Xia Fujun, who is walking in the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center and working at the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat, was full of emotion and continued. He participated in the preparations for the 18th China-ASEAN Expo and is a witness to the growth of the China-ASEAN Expo.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN.
In the past 30 years, the scale of China-ASEAN trade has expanded 85 times. In 2020, ASEAN will become China's largest trading partner. In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume increased by 38.2% year-on-year.
In November 2002, the "China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" was signed, launching the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.
In 2003, China and ASEAN established a strategic partnership, and the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides entered the fast lane.
In November 2004, with the mission of promoting the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the China-ASEAN Expo opened in Nanning, Guangxi.
Eighteen years ago, many people knew very little about the special products of ASEAN countries such as Vietnamese coffee and Lao beer.
Today, more and more ASEAN products are entering China.
Syndra, a lecturer at the National University of Laos who conducted post-doctoral research in Guangxi, said: "I didn't expect to drink Lao beer in Nanning. Trade is so convenient now."
Negotiations, cooperation, signing... The China-ASEAN Expo has set up a large platform for economic and trade cooperation, and various negotiations under the framework of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area are gradually advancing.
"The China-ASEAN Expo is'tailored' for the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and actively conveys information and business opportunities in various aspects such as trade and investment facilitation and cross-border park construction." said Wang Lei, secretary general of the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat.
On January 1, 2010, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was completed as scheduled.
For more than 10 years, the development dividend of the free trade zone has been continuously released, and more than 90% of the goods between the two sides have achieved zero tariffs, benefiting hundreds of millions of people.
Huang Guolong, a Malaysian entrepreneur who has participated in the China-ASEAN Expo for many times, said: "The huge consumer market in China has driven the expansion of the company's durian product industry chain and sales channels. The sales of the company's products in China are growing rapidly every year."
In 2019, the "upgraded version" of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was launched. The "upgraded version" implements a new batch of service trade commitments and promotes the substantial opening of the investment field.
"Today's vibrant free trade area has brought closer bilateral relations between China and ASEAN, promoted the process of regional economic integration, and contributed to world economic growth." said Xu Ningning, executive director of the China-ASEAN Business Council.
CAEXPO is based on China-ASEAN cooperation and is open to other countries along the “Belt and Road” and even the world.
Wang Lei said that in 2014, CAEXPO innovatively established a special invitation partner mechanism, and Australia, South Korea and other countries have successively served as special partners.
In 2017, the 14th China-ASEAN Expo set up the “Belt and Road” exhibition area for the first time, and Kazakhstan served as a special partner, marking that the China-ASEAN Expo has achieved an effective connection between the “Belt and Road”.
This year, Pakistan became a special partner.
“The Belt and Road Initiative and the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor connect Pakistan with China and ASEAN.” Mohamed Ivan, Commercial Counselor of the Commercial Office of Pakistan's Consulate General in Guangzhou, said that with the release of dividends such as tariff reduction and elimination of trade barriers, Pakistan, The ties between China and ASEAN countries will increase day by day.
"The CAEXPO will continue to uphold the role of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area as a propeller for the construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, and take the RCEP signing as an opportunity to expand from serving '10+1' to serving RCEP, and further extending to more'Belt and Road' countries." Wang Lei said.
Constantly enriching cooperation: from trade in goods to investment and service trade go hand in hand
Food and beverages, accessories and clothing, machinery and electronics... At the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center, there are a dazzling array of exhibits in the major exhibition halls.
In addition to the exhibition and sales of exhibits, various business opportunities promotion and investment promotion activities also attracted a lot of attention.
The innovative "Eastern Cloud Expo" service covers commodity trade, investment cooperation, advanced technology transfer, service trade, industrial docking, sub-regional cooperation and other fields.
Benefiting from the China-ASEAN Expo platform, the cooperation between China and ASEAN has been continuously upgraded: from the initial "long" trade in goods, "short" in investment and service trade, to the present various forms of trade go hand in hand; from the beginning, mainly agricultural products and bulk goods , Until now big data, artificial intelligence, e-commerce cooperation is in the ascendant.
Since the China-ASEAN Expo was held, nearly one million Chinese and foreign businessmen have participated in the exhibition. More than 300 high-level conferences and forums have been held, covering more than 40 fields, and promoted the development of the new western land-sea channel, China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone and other fields. A number of major projects have landed.
"The CAEXPO has become a high-end platform for China and ASEAN to gather consensus and align development strategies, and an effective platform for the bilateral to deepen economic and trade exchanges and cooperation, and implement trade and investment facilitation." said Lei Xiaohua, deputy director of the Southeast Asian Institute of Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences.
Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that as of the end of June this year, the total mutual investment between China and ASEAN countries exceeded 310 billion U.S. dollars, and ASEAN has become China's main foreign investment destination and source of foreign direct investment.
Innovation has always been the "code" for the everlasting vitality of the CAEXPO.
The previous China-ASEAN Expo has focused on the connection of innovative technologies, improved economic and trade effectiveness, while at the same time innovating and optimizing the structure of the exhibition, expanding the areas of cooperation, and injecting rich innovative elements into China-ASEAN cooperation.
During the China-ASEAN Expo last year, the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center Bangkok Innovation Center, the Sino-Thailand-ASEAN Innovation Harbor, and the China-ASEAN Earth Big Data Regional Innovation Center were officially inaugurated.
Li Ping, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that up to now, the China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center has established a technology transfer collaboration network covering relevant institutions and enterprises in China and ASEAN countries. It has promoted nearly 6,000 projects, involving more than 8,500 companies, and has facilitated the signing of cooperation. More than 630 agreements.
"At present, ASEAN's digital economy is on the fast track of development, and China and ASEAN have broad room for cooperation in the fields of digital government, digital enterprises, digital industries, and new communications," said Lu Dongliang, chairman of China-ASEAN Information Port Co., Ltd.
Increasing "intimacy value": helping build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future
The China-ASEAN Expo is not only a grand economic and trade event, but also a diplomatic stage, sending a strong signal of China-ASEAN friendly cooperation.
Statistics show that more than 100 Chinese and foreign leaders and more than 3,400 ministerial VIPs have attended the China-ASEAN Expo. High-level talks and high-end political and business dialogues have become the "blockbuster" content of the conference, which has strongly promoted the China-ASEAN strategy. The partnership has developed in depth.
Over the years, relying on the platform of the China-ASEAN Expo, China and ASEAN have continuously deepened their exchanges and cooperation in the fields of humanities, education, people's livelihood, and health.
"The China-ASEAN Expo has promoted cooperation in many fields and is a win-win platform." said Binjamar Tavitayanon, Consul General of the Thai Consulate General in Nanning.
In recent years, under the framework of the China-ASEAN Expo, the China-ASEAN Cultural Forum and the China-ASEAN Expo Cultural Exhibition have been held successively, playing an active role in promoting regional cultural exchanges.
As of the end of June this year, as a window to ASEAN, Guangxi has established cooperative relations with nearly 200 colleges and universities in ASEAN countries, and 16,000 students from ASEAN countries have come to Guangxi.
"The five years of studying in Guangxi have gained me a lot, and I have witnessed the in-depth cooperation between Guangxi and ASEAN countries in education." said Ruan Taiying, a Vietnamese student majoring in international business at Guangxi University for Nationalities, and more and more classmates around her After graduation, he engaged in trade and technological exchanges between ASEAN and China.
With the help of the CAEXPO platform, many infrastructure projects have brought benefits to the people of ASEAN countries.
At the construction site of the 500kV Pala Substation Project in Santong County, Vientiane City, Laos, technicians from China Southern Power Grid Guangxi Company are fighting with local workers.
Lao workers read and said: "At first I found it very difficult to do it, but the Chinese technicians are very patient and teach over and over again, and I am grateful to them for teaching without reservation."
In the face of the sudden outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, China and ASEAN have watched and helped each other to overcome the difficulties and jointly strengthen cooperation in the field of public health.
Last year's China-ASEAN Expo set up a public epidemic prevention and sanitation exhibition area for the first time. This year's China-ASEAN Expo hosted a series of activities such as the China-ASEAN Pharmaceutical Cooperation and Development Summit Forum to continuously help build a human health community.
“I hope that through the China-ASEAN Expo and other platforms, we will promote more regional exchanges and cooperation and pass on more friendship.” said An Anong, a Thai teacher at Guangxi University of Foreign Languages who has been working in China for 15 years.