25/10/2024
ASEAN, China Strengthen Ties: 44th and 45th Summits Mark Milestones with Connectivity Initiatives and New Free Trade Agreement!
On October 9, the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits opened in Vientiane, Laos, under the theme "ASEAN: Strengthening Connectivity and Resilience". At this summit, China proposed to build a three-dimensional connectivity network, expand cooperation in emerging industries, and deepen people-to-people exchanges, sending a positive signal to the outside world that China is willing to continue to deepen friendly cooperation with countries in the region.
A major outcome of the ASEAN Summit is that the leaders of China and the 10 ASEAN countries announced the substantive conclusion of the negotiations on version 3.0 of the China-Asean Free Trade Area, which is expected to be signed by 2025. Looking back on China-Asean cooperation, over the past decades, the political mutual trust between the two sides has become more solid. In November 2021, China and ASEAN established a comprehensive strategic partnership. Economic and trade cooperation has yielded fruitful results. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and the two sides have been each other's largest trading partner for four consecutive years. Steady progress has been made in people-to-people and cultural exchanges. 2024 is the China-Asean Year of People-to-people and Cultural Exchanges. A series of people-to-people and cultural exchanges have been held, which has set off a new wave of people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.
