Today (20th), the China-ASEAN Expo ushered in its first public open day. As of 16:00 today (20th), the number of visitors to this Expo has exceeded 260,000. The rising popularity of the exhibition is just a microcosm of the current China-ASEAN cooperation. Since the beginning of this year, China and ASEAN have interacted frequently, from heads of state diplomacy to high-level meetings to professional forums. In the face of global turmoil and challenges, why does ASEAN choose to look at China? What are the new features of the cooperation between the two sides? How will it help the stable development of Asia and the world?

China and ASEAN continue to create "opportunities" for cooperation

A set of numbers give the answer. The 10 ASEAN industry and business leaders gathered in Nanjing, 45 countries and regions, more than 3,000 enterprises participated in the exhibition, 7 ASEAN countries set up dedicated national halls, over a hundred major investment projects and trade orders signed. The 160,000 square meters exhibition hall, a five-day exhibition, witnessed the warmth of China's ASEAN cooperation continues to climb.

"We have signed cooperation projects with many companies." A Malaysian exhibitor told the reporter of Blue Hall Observation excitedly that besides Nanning, they have also signed agreements with enterprises in Hangzhou, Northeast China and other places. He said that China's big market gives everyone great opportunities.

As of last year, China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, and ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner for 5 consecutive years.In the first eight months of this year, China's ASEAN trade scale has regained its historic high.In recent years, China's technological and production capacity advantages in equipment manufacturing, electronic information, new energy and other fields have been strongly complementary to ASEAN countries' rich natural resources, young labor markets and increasing manufacturing capabilities.

Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. tariff policy has brought a huge impact to the Southeast Asian economy with a high degree of export dependence. but it is the synergy of production supply chain cooperation, so that China and ASEAN in the context of globalization encounter reversal, not only become each other's "shelter", but also have a new "spot of opportunity". especially in the emerging and cutting-edge fields such as digital economy, artificial intelligence and green technology, in recent years, China-ASEAN artificial intelligence innovation cooperation exhibition center has been successfully established, clean energy cooperation center construction is steadily advanced, several new energy cooperation projects have been built, and cooperation around zero-carbon industrial parks, smart factories, digital supply chains and other emerging fields has also been acceler

This year's China-ASEAN Expo is also focused on "numerical intelligence empowering development, innovation leading the future" as the theme, and for the first time created the specialty of artificial intelligence.

A professional audience who came to visit said to the reporter of the Blue Hall Observatory that China¡¯s development in the field of artificial intelligence is very advanced and its scope of application is very broad.

Exhibitors from Cambodia said that if China's artificial intelligence technology or products can enter the markets of other countries, it can help these countries achieve development, so that they can obtain advanced ideas and promote progress in all aspects.

In an earlier interview, ASEAN Secretary-General Cao Cao said that shared prosperity has always been our common theme. We have common interests in almost all areas of cooperation. This is reflected in our cooperation mechanisms. Overall, out of our 11 dialogue partners, ASEAN and China have the most cooperation mechanisms. Cao Cao Cao believes that ASEAN and China should maintain the current level of cooperation, while, as always, constructively addressing challenges, he believes that future relations between the two sides will continue to develop in the most dynamic way.

Insist on openness.

China and ASEAN work together to promote stability and prosperity in Asia

In May this year, the first free trade area established by China, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, completed the negotiations on upgrading version 3.0, and the high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) between China and ASEAN also entered the fourth year.

With the further release of institutional dividends and the continuous expansion of cooperation areas, at present, China-ASEAN cooperation has gone beyond the bilateral scope, continuously strengthening mutual trust and strategic independence among regions, and promoting peace, stability and prosperity in Asia.

In July this year, at the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers¡¯ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, China solemnly vowed to continue to adhere to the philosophy of good neighbourhood, good neighbourhood, rich neighbourhood, intimacy and shared destiny, and to work with ASEAN to accelerate Asia¡¯s revitalization in the globe¡¯s remarkably growing historical momentum.

Since the establishment of dialogue relations in 1991, China's ASEAN cooperation has always been an important force for Asia's development and prosperity, and several public polls have shown that the recognition of ASEAN countries for China's development model and regional economic contribution has continued to rise.

At present, a pragmatic initiative, not only promotes the overall development of the region, but also continuously improves the lives of the people. Chinese old railway passenger freight transportation growth rate over three consecutive years more than two digits; Yavan high-speed railway in operation, Indonesia entered the "high-speed rail era"; grenade, firewood and other ASEAN fruits continuously enrich the Chinese people's "fruit basket", while China's vegetables, temperate band fruits are also welcomed by the ASEAN market; China with Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries to comprehensive mutual visa exemption, personal exchanges are increasingly frequent.

But it is worth noting that in recent years, some countries have continuously advocated China's "disconnecting chain" and "de-risking", restricting China through ASEAN transfers through tariffs and new rules of origin, forcing ASEAN countries to "choose sides". facing the challenge of external factors, at the ASEAN summit held in May this year, ASEAN countries issued a clear appeal to strengthen ASEAN's central position in dealing with foreign relations, and stressed that it will deepen cooperation with all parties with inclusive and non-discriminatory standards.

In an interview with reporters at the China-ASEAN Center Secretary-General, Mr. Shuang said that in the face of geopolitical pressure, ASEAN¡¯s position is to clearly oppose acts such as protectionism, unilateral sanctions and economic coercion that undermine regional stability, demand that member states by collective action avoid the risk of damage to regional interests, enhance collective response capabilities, and strengthen cooperation with China in various fields.At the same time, ASEAN is actively expanding diversified partnerships, reducing the risk of reliance on the single market, actively developing cooperation with emerging market countries, and innovative cooperation models, such as building a trilateral cooperation mechanism ¡°China-ASEAN-Haiti¡± to enhance its strategy and voice.

At the end of last month, China-ASEAN¡¯s new five-year action plan was officially announced, and it was clear that the two sides would further strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest and contribute to promoting regional peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development.

Cooperation rather than confrontation, openness rather than closure, integration rather than disconnection, China-ASEAN cooperation continues to show the world a model of new types of regional cooperation, and will continue to bring more stability and certainty to a turbulent world.

The journalist Deng Xiaobo.