China-ASEAN Trade Upgrade to Boost Regional Integration

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — As Chinese and ASEAN leaders gather here this week, a planned upgrade of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area comes into the spotlight.

Within this year, the two sides will formally sign the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol,empowering regional economic integration and global trade,Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday.

being each other’s largest trading partner for the fifth consecutive year, China and ASEAN have scored numerous achievements amid rising external uncertainties.In the first three quarters, China’s trade with ASEAN totaled 5.57 trillion yuan (about 785 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.6 percent year-on-year, with events such as the China-ASEAN Expo successfully held.

new achievements coincide with the adoption of the Plan of Action to Implement the China-ASEAN Extensive Strategic Partnership (2026-2030), which aligns highly with the ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future and its Strategic Plans. Standing at a new starting point,the region is broadening collaboration on infrastructure,digital and green transition,trade facilitation and people-to-people exchanges,paving the way for deeper regional integration.

NEW CONNECTIVITY

As their operation, the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia and the China-laos Railway have played an indispensable role in regional connectivity and mobility under the Belt and Road Initiative, largely reducing the cost of logistics and transportation.

Going through the 16.39-km Genting Tunnel, the Malaysia’s East Coast Rail Link carries high expectations for regional connectivity and integration. Touted as a “game changer” for the movement of passengers and freight in Peninsular Malaysia, this milestone infrastructure project will link key cities and hubs, intertwining with existing railway nets along the corridor.

Beyond rail links,the next chapter of connectivity is unfolding in the sky. The Zhengzhou-Kuala Lumpur “Air Silk Road,” a strategic air cargo partnership, has added another dimension to the ASEAN-China integration in facilitating logistics and streamlining cross-border e-commerce flows.

in August 2024, the first flight loaded with fresh durians touched down at the Xinzheng International Airport in China’s central city of zhengzhou. “Now, a naturally ripened Musang King durian can reach chinese consumers within 36 hours of harvest.This was unimaginable just a few years ago,” Zhang Jianhao, secretary-general of the Malaysia International Durian Industry Advancement Federation, told Xinhua.

“This critical cooperation highlights the advantages of the ‘dual hub’ model,” said Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook. “Thanks to the Zhengzhou airport’s ‘green channel’ and ‘zero-wait’ customs clearance policies, Malaysian durians can enter the Chinese market efficiently. Meanwhile, Chinese cross-border e-commerce goods are also rapidly being exported to Southeast Asia, gradually forming a two-way model of ‘durians entering china, e-commerce goods going global.'”

“ASEAN must sieze this opportunity. this is why I encourage our logistics companies, especially local airlines and ground handling companies