Xinhua News Agency, Nanning, September 19th Title: Special report | Faster, more stable and more practical - Feel the pace of building a community with a shared future for China-ASEAN from the ASEAN Expo

Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Jiefeng Zhu Lili

The exhibition area of ​​up to 160,000 square meters, 7 ASEAN countries have reserved halls or semi-contained halls at the main venue, and more than 3,200 companies from 60 countries have participated in the exhibition... The 22nd China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Nanning, Guangxi from September 17 to 21 attracted a large number of people inside and outside the region.

For more than 20 years, the China International Fair has been like a bond and a bridge, closely connecting China with ASEAN countries. Through this window of the ASEAN Expo, we can see that China and ASEAN countries are building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future at a faster, more stable and more practical pace.

"Important symbol of mutual trust, cooperation and progress together"

At previous China International Fairs, more than 200 Chinese and foreign leaders, 4,000 ministerial VIPs and heads of international organizations have attended the event. Through opening speeches, leaders' meetings, ministerial consultations, etc., they have continuously promoted the building of cooperation and consensus among all parties. This year's China International Fair continues the high standards of political and diplomacy:

——At the opening ceremony, leaders and senior officials of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries, as well as the ASEAN Secretary-General, attended and delivered speeches, highly affirming the past contributions of the ASEAN Expo and actively looking forward to the development prospects of the ASEAN Expo:

"Over the years, the ASEAN Expo has become an important platform for promoting trade and investment between ASEAN and China, deepening mutual friendship, and peace and cooperation." "I believe that this ASEAN Expo will further deepen the lasting friendship, trust and economic partnership between ASEAN and China." "(ASEAN Expo) can build a bridge between trade and technology, market and innovation, today's opportunities and tomorrow's possibilities"...

——During the China-ASEAN Development Ministers' Roundtable, the Industrial Ministers' Roundtable, the Artificial Intelligence Ministers' Roundtable, the China-ASEAN Development Ministers' Roundtable, the Artificial Intelligence Ministers' Roundtable, the China-ASEAN Expo's Senior Officials' Meeting, and the RCEP High-end Dialogue on Economic and Trade Cooperation, various parties have reached a number of achievement documents on cooperation in areas such as housing and urban-rural development, regional industry, and industrial chain and supply chain stability, witnessing the continuous strengthening of strategic mutual trust between China and ASEAN.

Here, China connects development strategies with ASEAN countries and builds more development consensus.

"Now, the ASEAN Expo has become an important symbol of mutual trust, cooperation and joint progress between ASEAN and China." ASEAN Secretary-General Gao Jinhong said that over the past 20 years, the ASEAN Expo has become larger and larger, and the content is displayed is increasing. Every year, many leaders of ASEAN countries and important enterprises have participated, which reflects ASEAN and China's "high importance to the ASEAN Expo."

"In my opinion, the ASEAN Expo is a typical practice of ASEAN and China working together to build a community with a shared future." Weilun, director of the Thai-China "Belt and Road" Research Center, said, "ASEAN and China are not only important trading partners for each other, but also a community of interests and a community of responsibility. We believe that both sides will contribute important forces to regional peace and development in the future."

"Deepen economic integration within the region and help the development of the free trade zone"

As the surge of people entered the main venue, in addition to the popular Thai dried fruit, Vietnamese coffee, Laos ancient tree tea and other ASEAN countries, many ASEAN companies have also debuted with high-tech products such as artificial intelligence (AI) large-scale applications, smart medical platforms, digital payment tools, etc.; in the Chinese exhibition area, smart glasses with real-time translation functions, flexible robot dogs, large-load drones and other technological products have also attracted everyone's attention.

From the development of local specialties to artificial intelligence exhibits and from traditional fields to digital fields, it fully confirms the theme of this year's ASEAN Expo: "Digital intelligence empowers development, innovation leads the future - using new opportunities in the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone to help build a community with a shared future."

"This year, Indonesia has several technology companies participating in the exhibition." Falk Lange, CEO of an artificial intelligence and robotics company in Indonesia for the first time, told reporters, "This reflects the upgrading of Indonesia's economic and trade relations with China and the increase in cooperation between the two countries in the fields of industry and science and technology, which is beneficial to each other."

Here, China and ASEAN countries accurately connect with market demand, promote economic and trade integration, and jointly create a picture of mutually beneficial prosperity.

"The ASEAN Expo has greatly increased the trade volume between ASEAN and China, helped each other's products to smoothly enter each other's consumer market, and played a role in deepening economic integration within the region and helping the development of the free trade zone." Naireu, a member of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said, "The ASEAN Expo emphasizes that it is based on multilateral cooperation and aims to serve the livelihood needs of all countries, which also proves that China has been practicing the global governance initiative."

This year, Sri Lanka, as a special partner country, participated in the East China Expo. In addition to displaying special products such as tea, spices, rubber, etc., it also hopes to find cooperation opportunities in attracting tourism investment and promoting port development. Yasiru Lanaraja, founding director of the Sri Lanka Belt and Road Organization, said: "In the context of the global uncertainty and major changes in the world trade pattern, the ASEAN Expo has supported the vision of building a regional community with a shared future with its characteristics of strengthening regional economic interdependence and its practical and rich cooperation results, and has also become a model for broader global cooperation models and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind."

"Sow the seeds of lasting harmony for future development"

On the evening of the 17th, as an important supporting event of the ASEAN Expo, the China-ASEAN Youth Leaders Roundtable Dialogue was held in Nanning. At the meeting, young representatives from various countries exchanged innovative cases and shared their thoughts on deepening cooperation between ASEAN and China.

"By participating in this project, I have learned many successful cases between ASEAN and China in manufacturing cooperation, technology introduction, cultural exchanges, etc., and gained a lot." Ou Baohua, representative of the first phase of the Youth Leader Growth Plan and CEO of Myanmar Liang Olive Consulting Group, told reporters, "We can also understand the different development thinking and key development directions of various countries. I believe this will be of great help to the youth of ASEAN countries, including Myanmar."

In addition, a variety of cultural exchange activities such as the China-ASEAN Intangible Cultural Heritage Fashion Week, the Star Power Youth Singer Competition, the cultural overseas exchange meeting, and the scene music and painting performance "Classic Southeast Asia" were staged one after another, which was pleasing to the eye and dazzling.

Here, there is not only a feast of audio-visual and ideological, but also a vivid practice of China and ASEAN countries to enhance emotional connection and deepen mutual learning among civilizations.

Sitisai Sai Fong, vice president of Shawan Naj University in Laos, said that in these activities, he felt the "more diverse and warm atmosphere" of this year's ASEAN Expo, "which will promote ASEAN and Chinese youth to have a deeper understanding of each other's national characteristics and culture, thereby further promoting tourism, trade and cultural exchanges."

"By holding various forms of cultural exchange activities, this year's ASEAN Expo embodies the deep friendship between ASEAN countries and China into sincere exchanges and ties, and sows the seeds of lasting harmony for the future development of both sides." Pei Liancao, an expert from the Trade Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, said, "The ASEAN Expo reflects that the cultural exchanges between ASEAN countries and China are booming, which has laid a solid foundation for cultural integration and mutual understanding within the region." (End)