With the increasing understanding and application of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) by enterprises in the region, the ASEAN market has become the largest source of China's foreign trade orders in the third quarter。China Council for the Promotion of International Trade recently released a survey report on the foreign trade situation in the third quarter, showing that the top three major source markets for new orders of Chinese foreign trade enterprises in the quarter were ASEAN, the European Union and the United States, accounting for 30.6%、30.55%和25.29%。This is also the first time that ASEAN has become the largest source of new orders for foreign trade enterprises。
Favorable geographical location, political and business relations, strong economic and trade complementarity between China and ASEAN, geographical advantages of cooperation and the support of connectivity, all these have made the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN continue to deepen this year。
Economic and trade cooperation in various fields continued to deepen
Asean remains China's largest trading partner。From January to August, trade between China and ASEAN maintained growth, reaching 6,275.$800 million, an increase of 13.3%。Among them, China's exports to ASEAN reached 3,640.800 million US dollars, an increase of 19.4%;China's imports from ASEAN reached US $263.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5. 5 billion.8%。In the first eight months, China-Asean trade accounted for 15 percent of China's total foreign trade, compared with 14 percent in the same period last year.5%。It is foreseeable that as the RCEP continues to release policy dividends, the comprehensive deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN will usher in more opportunities and gain more momentum。
With the continuous improvement of bilateral trade liberalization and facilitation, the trade of agricultural products between China and ASEAN is growing。Statistics from overseas show that in the first seven months, Vietnam's exports of aquatic products to China were about $1 billion, up 71 percent year-on-year;In the first half of this year, Thailand exported 112 fresh fruits to China.40,000 tons, an increase of 10%。Moreover, the variety of agricultural products traded is also expanding。Since the beginning of this year, Vietnamese passion fruit and durian have been included in the list of Chinese imports。
Machinery and equipment has become a hot spot in the growth of trade between China and ASEAN。With the gradual recovery of the ASEAN economy, the demand for machinery and equipment in the Southeast Asian market has also gradually increased。In the first seven months of this year, China's mechanical and electrical products ranked first among similar imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries。
It is worth noting that the implementation of RCEP and other free trade agreements has injected strong impetus into China-Asean economic and trade cooperation, showing the broad prospects and unlimited potential of bilateral trade。China and ASEAN countries are all important members of the RCEP, which is the world's largest trading bloc.The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area is regarded as an important pillar of the relationship between the two sides, and these platforms can be committed to building constructive relations and strengthening cooperation between China and ASEAN to build a common future。
Digital economy cooperation is on the rise
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 and telemedicine 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 the star of new business forms and new models of cooperation between China and ASEAN, effectively hedging the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on trade。At present, Asia-Pacific is the best performing region in the world for cross-border e-commerce, accounting for 53 percent of the global market size.6%, China and ASEAN is the booming 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 percent.5%。
Especially in the context of the current protracted epidemic, the new economic needs of "contactless" have created unlimited business opportunities for transnational digital cooperation。Data analysis predicts that ASEAN e-commerce sales will reach $38.2 billion this year。It is expected that by 2025, the ASEAN e-commerce scale will increase from $100 billion to $300 billion。Countries have adopted policies and regulations to support the development of transnational e-commerce。For example, the RCEP has set up a chapter on "e-commerce", showing the importance of e-commerce in the development of regional opening。The RCEP Special Chapter on E-commerce is the first comprehensive and high-level plurilateral e-commerce rules 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, in terms of the integration of digital technology and the real economy, green energy, digital electromechanical and digital mining are mostly the development priorities of RCEP countries, and China and ASEAN will certainly have a broader space for cooperation。
(Article from International Business Daily)