2020 is the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China ASEAN Free Trade Area and the year of China ASEAN digital economic cooperation. It will become a milestone year in the economic relations between China and ASEAN. China novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic situation, the two sides joined hands to fight the disease and strengthen economic and trade cooperation. China Customs General Administration data show that ASEAN has become China's largest goods trading partner for the first time in the first half of this year.
Recently, the 19th China ASEAN (10 + 1) economic and trade ministers' meeting was held in the form of video. Both sides expressed that they would work together to promote trade and investment to achieve economic recovery. China's novel coronavirus pneumonia and its trade and investment in the new crown pneumonia epidemic remain strong during the new era of the outbreak of the pneumonia epidemic, which fully reflects the toughness and great potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
China ASEAN Cooperation
Drive ASEAN economic recovery
"Novel coronavirus pneumonia affects the ASEAN economies, but with the gradual recovery and restart of the economy, the impact of the epidemic on these countries is gradually weakening." Luo Yongkun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asia and Oceania of the China Institute of modern international relations, said in an interview with China trade daily that ASEAN countries are also facing some challenges: first, the economic growth rate of ASEAN countries may be zero or negative this year, which will affect the development of various industries and lead to the government's lack of investment. In order to fight the epidemic, financial allocation has been transferred from some investments It remains to be seen whether more investment will be needed in the future if the investment sector withdraws and invests into public health. Second, most ASEAN countries rely on tourism development, but so far, many countries have not opened up international tourism; third, the employment problem brought about by the previous economic shutdown. Even though the economic restart in recent two months has eased, the unemployment rate is still on a year-on-year or month on month basis Increase.
In order to reduce the impact of the epidemic and accelerate economic recovery, Aladdin D. Lillo, ASEAN's deputy secretary general for economic affairs, said in an interview with the media that ASEAN and its dialogue partners, including China, have strengthened supply chain cooperation and trade facilitation cooperation to ensure smooth supply of key materials such as food and medical supplies. He believes that the global economic recovery in the "post epidemic era" will largely depend on China's economic recovery. It is gratifying that China's economy grew by 3.2% in the second quarter and has successfully avoided falling into recession.
People from many ASEAN countries said that China's economic data in the first half of the year are encouraging, which is not only of great significance to China, but also will effectively drive the economic development of ASEAN. China is now China's largest one, and one belt, one road, is the largest trading partner in China. In the first half of this year, trade between the two sides reached about US $300 billion, and ASEAN accounted for us $6 billion 230 million in China's investment of US $8 billion 120 million. Li Jianxiong, former public affairs director of the ASEAN Secretariat, said that the growth of intra regional trade in ASEAN is of positive significance. In particular, while focusing on the prevention and control of the epidemic situation, it is also committed to the recovery of the economy.
Digital economy becomes the highlight of bilateral cooperation
Xu Ningning, executive director of the China ASEAN Business Council, believes that enhancing digital economic cooperation is conducive to the prevention and control of the epidemic situation between China and ASEAN, the new development of bilateral trade and investment, and the economic recovery and growth. China and ASEAN China novel coronavirus pneumonia joint novel coronavirus pneumonia joint meeting issued this year, the China ASEAN Economic and trade minister's joint statement on combating the new crown pneumonia epidemic and strengthening trade cooperation with China, all require the development of digital economic cooperation.
Luo Yongkun said that the digital economy is the highlight of cooperation between China and ASEAN. Since this year, the digital economy of both sides has made outstanding achievements in epidemic prevention and control, and enterprises in the forefront of digital technology in China have also contributed their own strength. For example, Huawei provides Malaysia, Cambodia and other remote video conference systems or related data platforms to help them realize real-time information sharing and remote office work.
It is understood that Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Co., Ltd. cooperates with Malaysia telecom company to provide more advanced cloud technology products for private enterprises and public sectors in Malaysia. At the same time, Alibaba's cloud computing platform, Alibaba cloud, will also launch its third data center in Indonesia to provide local users with richer data and network, machine learning, data analysis and other services.
"There is a lot of space for ASEAN to cooperate with China in digital economy. ASEAN, especially Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and other Indo China Peninsula countries, have relatively backward Internet technology and imperfect network infrastructure, so they have great potential in the construction of digital infrastructure in the future. " Luo Yongkun said that with the popularization of 5g and other high-tech technologies, the cooperation plan for smart city construction between China and ASEAN is also in the pipeline, and relevant cooperation programs frequently appear at the China ASEAN leaders' meeting.
Make good use of the existing platform
Expand the third party market
"During the anti epidemic period, the two sides should give full play to the existing cooperation platforms and mechanisms such as the China ASEAN Free Trade Area." Luo Yongkun said that since the protocol for upgrading the China ASEAN Free Trade Area came into full force, China ASEAN trade in agricultural products has grown rapidly. As the threshold of rules of origin, trade agreements, trade in services, and investment fields have been lowered, the free trade zone bonus has been further released.
In addition, since it was first held in 2004, China ASEAN Expo has become an important public platform for China ASEAN regional cooperation. Although this year's 17th China ASEAN Expo was postponed due to the epidemic situation, Wang Lei, Secretary General of the China ASEAN Expo Secretariat, said that the Expo will restore the industrial chain and supply chain after the epidemic