VIENTIANE (Xinhua): Leaders of China and Asean countries announced here the substantial conclusion of the Version 3.0 China-Asean Free Trade Area (FTA) upgrade negotiations, paving the way for one of the world's most populous and robust FTAs to play a bigger role in boosting regional development amid rising global protectionism.
The announcement was made at the 27th China-AseanSummit, part of a series of leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation starting Wednesday, including the 27th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit.
The important outcome provides institutional safeguards for China and Asean to build the super-sized markets together, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang when addressing the meeting, hailing it as a significant step in spearheading East Asian economic integration as well as in demonstrating their unequivocal support for multilateralism and free trade.
Both China and Asean have confirmed that they will accelerate work involving legal reviews and domestic procedures to promote the signing of the 3.0 upgrade protocol in 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday in a statement.
The construction of the China-Asean Free Trade Area was completed in 2010, and Version 3.0 FTA negotiations began in November 2022.
"The China-ASEAN FTA 3.0, which is improved and more open, will promote mutual benefit and win-win results," said Yong Chanthalangsy, representative of Laos to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. "China and ASEAN are a community of shared future. The joint efforts of both sides to build a more open China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 are also the embodiment of the spirit of a community with a shared future for mankind."
The Chinese premier voiced hope to explore with Asean more ways and means to connect and share the markets, so as to generate stronger, more lasting development impetus for both sides and provide more solid support for the shared prosperity of the region and the world at large.
China has remained Asean's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, while Asean has been China's top trading partner for four consecutive years.
Official data show that in the first seven months of this year, their trade reached US$552 billion, up 7.7 percent year on year, accounting for about one-sixth of China's total foreign trade volume in the same period.
"With a combined population of more than 2 billion people, the market of China and Asean is a huge one," Chanthalangsy noted. "China and Asean, geographically close with respective advantages and strong economic complementarity, can support each other and need each other at the same time. The China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 will make commodity circulation and trade between both sides more convenient, and inject new momentum into their respective economic development."
The efforts of China and Asean are in tune with the theme of the 44th and 45th Asean Summits, "ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience," which highlights the bloc's ambition to respond to various pressing challenges and seize opportunities to build a more integrated, connected and resilient regional community.
China will always firmly support Asean integration, community building, and its strategic independence, and stands ready to work with ASEAN countries to elevate the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level, Li said.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping has noted, China will continue to follow the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and work with other countries in the region to build a better Asian community.
To this end, the premier said, China and Asean need to create a multidimensional connectivity network to enable unimpeded development for Asia in the future, expand cooperation in emerging industries to enhance the sustainability of growth for Asia in the future, and deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges to solidify the foundation of friendship for Asia in the future.
The Asean leaders attending the summit applauded the robust growth momentum of the ASEAN-China comprehensive strategic partnership, noting that cooperation between Asean and China in various fields has yielded fruitful results, which has greatly improved the well-being of people in the region.
"This upgrade to the FTA is an important move, especially in this time of growing protectionism in the world," Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said during the ASEAN-China Summit.
The results from this summit will "not only benefit China and the Asean countries, but also help enhance the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region," said Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia.
Also on Thursday, Li attended the 27th APT Summit, where he highlighted China's readiness to have in-depth exchanges of views with all parties on major regional cooperation issues and contribute to making the region an important engine for global development.
Li said that China will continue to work with all parties to give full play to the APT cooperation mechanism, support Asean's centrality in the regional architecture, promote the long-term, sound and stable development of the region, and inject more certainty and positive energy into Asia and the world.
The premier called for sustained efforts to enhance the resilience of regional development, improve the stability and competitiveness of regional industrial systems, and implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement with high quality.
"China looks forward to accelerating the restart of China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Area negotiations," he added.
Leaders present at the meeting said that the world is witnessing rising complexity and uncertainty, and that the APT cooperation, which has made important contributions to maintaining regional stability and promoting regional development, is facing an opportunity of further development. - Xinhua
