The latest data showed that from January to July 2024, ASEAN continued to maintain its position as Chinas largest trading partner, with the gross trade value of both sides reaching RMB 3.92 trillion, up 10.5 per cent, representing 15.8 per cent of Chinas gross foreign trade value. Among them, Chinas exports to ASEAN were RMB 2.36 trillion, up 13.7 per cent; ASEANs imports were RMB 1.56 trillion, up 5.9 per cent.

China hasined its position as ASEANs largest trading partner for 15 years in a row, and ASEAN has also been Chinas largest trading partner for 4 years in a row. Experts surveyed generally believe that China and ASEANs current economic and trade exchanges are rapid and the prospects for future cooperation are broad. The 2 sides have shown strong resilience in industrial chain and supply chain cooperation, especially in cooperation in emerging industries such as electric vehicles, showing great po10tial and producing a positive outflow effect.

Since the establishment of bilateral cooperation between China and ASEAN, the 2 sides have carried out ex10sive and in-depth cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, finance, humanitarian exchanges and infrastructure construction. Through the signing and implementation of the Belt and Road cooperation document, China and ASEAN’s comprehensive strategic cooperation has entered a fast-track.RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee Chairman and China’s chief ASEAN trade expert Zhang Ning pointed out that between January and July this year, China’s top 3 trading partners were Vietnam, Malaysia and Ind1sia, with trade volume rising by 24.1%, 13.7% and 4.1% respectively. These countries have established comprehensive strategic partnership with China and reached an important consensus on building a community of destiny.

Analyzing why China and ASEAN economic and trade cooperation maintain a strong development momentum, Chung Ning believes that there are a few key factors: First, the 2 sides have a common need for cooperation and deepen cooperation through a series of multilateral cooperation consensus. Second, the 2 sides are committed to economic growth and actively develop economic and trade complementarity, and enterprises have exploited a lot of business opportunities in the process. Third, the implementation of the free trade agreement has made both sides more open and thus promoted the growth of integration. Fourth, ASEAN economic communities building and Chinas 2-cycle strategy promote each other, providing favorable conditions for the joint construction of One Belt and One Road. In addition, the rapid growth of 2-way investment has also promoted the strengthening of trade. In 2023, China

With the comprehensive implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area has entered the 3.0 upgrading phase. At the end of June this year, the 7th round of China-ASEAN Free Trade Z1 3.0 negotiations took place in Guangxi Nanjing, and the Ministry of Commerce said it would strive to end the negotiations as soon as possible.

Liu Xin, Secretary General of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, said that China and ASEAN countries have a strong complementarity in cooperation in the electric vehicle industry, and in the multilateral cooperation consensus reached between the 2 sides in recent years, new energy cooperation has always been an important part. The ASEAN market, thanks to its good market, industry and policy environment, has become 1 of the fastest growing markets in the world for new energy vehicles, and is a major target market for Chinas new energy vehicle exports and overseas investment. In recent years, upstream and downstream enterprises in Chinas electric vehicle industries, such as Gili, Biady, Sui, Long Mountains, have accelerated their investment layout in ASEAN, a trend that shows that ASEANs position in the electric vehicle industry is rising rapidly.

Emund Alaga, chairman of the Asian Electric Vehicle Association Federation and chairman of the Philippine Electric Vehicle Association, noted that China’s electric vehicles have the highest supply and demand share in the global market, and that further strengthening regional cooperation has positive implications for China and ASEAN countries and helps to win-win cooperation. The development plans and sides of the ASEAN electric vehicle industry are different, which offers new opportunities for Chinese enterprises. For example, the Laos electric vehicle industry is in the initial stage of development, and in the first 5 months of this year, the number of electric vehicles imported in Laos has exceeded last year’s combination. This shows the strong demand for electric vehicles in the Laos market and the broad prospects for future development.

However, ASEAN markets are also facing challenges while providing opportunities. For example, Thailand is more focused on localized production of electric vehicles, and control of production costs is an important issue; Singapore is facing new challenges in terms of battery recycling, repair and supporting services. In this regard, Liu Xin suggested that Chinese enterprises and industry associations should gain an in-depth understanding of ASEAN countries electric vehicle development plans and policy dynamics in order to improve the cooperations targeting and complementarity, and jointly study the main issues encountered in the cooperation, providing recommendations to governments and organizing business opportunities meetings to promote the further deepening of ASEAN electric vehicle cooperation.

Overall, with the deepening of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, the cooperation between the 2 sides in traditional and emerging fields is further expanding and is full of enormous po10tial.