CCTV News: On September 20, the China-ASEAN Expo ushered in its first public open day. As of 16:00 on September 20, the number of visitors to this Expo has exceeded 260,000. The rising popularity of the exhibition is just a microcosm of current China-ASEAN cooperation.

Since 2025, China and ASEAN have frequently interacted from heads of state diplomacy to high-level meetings to professional forums. In the face of global turmoil and challenges, why did ASEAN choose to look at China? What new characteristics have been shown in the cooperation between the two sides? How will it help the stable development of Asia and the world?

How popular is the China-ASEAN Expo being held? A set of numbers gives the answer. Leaders of the Chamber of Commerce of 10 ASEAN countries gathered in Nanning, with more than 3,000 companies participating in the exhibition in 45 countries and regions, 7 ASEAN countries set up special national pavilions, and more than 100 major investment projects and trade orders signed. The 160,000 square meters exhibition hall and a five-day exhibition witness the continued rise of China-ASEAN cooperation.

Malaysian exhibitors said they have signed cooperation with many aspects, and in addition to Nanning, they have signed agreements with Hangzhou, Northeast China or other places. The Chinese market is big, which definitely gives them a great opportunity.

As of 2024, China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, and ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner for five consecutive years. In the first eight months of 2025, the scale of China-ASEAN trade reached a new record high in the same period. In recent years, China's technological and capacity advantages in equipment manufacturing, electronic information, new energy and other fields have formed a strong complement to the rich natural resources, young labor market and increasingly improved manufacturing capabilities of ASEAN countries.

Since the beginning of 2025, the US tariff policy has brought a huge impact on the Southeast Asian economy, which is highly dependent on exports. It is the coordinated cooperation of the production and supply chain that has made China and ASEAN not only become each other's "safe haven" in the context of the backward trend of globalization, but also have new "opportunities", especially in emerging and cutting-edge fields such as digital, artificial intelligence and green technology.

In recent years, the China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Center Display Center has been successfully established, the construction of the Clean Energy Cooperation Center has been steadily promoted, and a number of new energy cooperation projects have been completed and put into production. Cooperation around emerging fields such as zero-carbon industrial parks, smart factories, and digital supply chains has also been accelerated comprehensively. This year's China-ASEAN Expo is themed on "digital intelligence empowers development, innovation leads the future" and has created an artificial intelligence hall for the first time. China-ASEAN cooperation is entering a new stage of high-quality development of "1 1>2".

Cambodian exhibitors 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 gain advanced ideas and promote progress in all aspects. China and ASEAN work together to promote stability and prosperity in Asia

In May 2025, China established the first free trade zone to the outside world, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone fully completed the 3.0 version upgrade negotiations, and China and ASEAN implemented the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) with high-quality also entered its fourth year. With the further release of institutional dividends and the continuous expansion of the cooperation field, China-ASEAN cooperation has surpassed the bilateral scope, continuously strengthening mutual trust and strategic autonomy among regions, and promoting peace, stability and prosperity in Asia.

In July 2025, at the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, China solemnly vowed to continue to adhere to the concept of good neighborhood, peace of neighborhood, wealth of neighborhood, friendship, sincerity, favorability, and sharing a shared future, and work with ASEAN to accelerate the revitalization of Asia in the historical trend of the global south.

Since the establishment of dialogue relations in 1991, China-ASEAN cooperation has always been an important force for Asia's development and prosperity. Several public polls show that ASEAN countries' recognition of China's development model and regional economic contribution continues to increase. China and ASEAN countries often come and go and communicate with each other, which not only promotes regional stability, but also shows the charm of multilateralism to the world.

At present, pragmatic measures are not only promoting the overall development of the region, but also constantly improving people's lives. The passenger and freight transportation volume of China-Laos Railway has grown by more than double digits for three consecutive years. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has been put into operation, and Indonesia has entered the "high-speed rail era". ASEAN fruits such as durian and dragon fruit are constantly enriching the "fruit basket" of Chinese people. At the same time, China's vegetables and temperate fruits are also popular in the ASEAN market.

China has achieved comprehensive mutual visa exemption with Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries, and personnel exchanges are becoming increasingly frequent. But it is worth noting that in recent years, some countries have continuously advocated "decoupling and chain breaking" and "de-risk reduction" with China, restricting China's re-export through ASEAN through tariffs and new regulations on origin, forcing ASEAN countries to "select sidelines." Faced with the challenges of extraterritorial factors, at the ASEAN summit held in May 2025, ASEAN countries issued a clear call for strengthening ASEAN's central position when dealing with foreign relations, and emphasized that cooperation with all parties will be deepened with inclusive and non-discriminatory norms.

In 2026, China and ASEAN will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership. Just at the end of last month, the new five-year action plan for China-ASEAN was officially released. The two sides made it clear that in the next five years, they will further strengthen cooperation in areas of common concern and contribute to promoting regional peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development. By cooperating rather than confrontation, opening rather than closure, integration rather than decoupling, China's cooperation with ASEAN continues to show the world a model of new types of regional cooperation, and will continue to bring more stability and certainty to the turbulent world.

(CCTV.com)