NANNING: China is willing to work with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) to uphold peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, in order to make greater contributions to regional peace, stability and prosperity, vice-president Han Zheng says.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 22nd China-Asean Expo on Wednesday, which runs through Sunday in Nanning, the capital of South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Han called for accelerating regional opening-up and cooperation, jointly building the Version 3.0 China-Asean Free Trade Area (Cafta 3.0), and ensuring the high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest free trade agreement by population, gross domestic product and trade volume.
He also called for joint efforts to promote the integrated development of industrial and supply chains, expand cooperation in emerging industries, and work together to safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains.
More than 3,200 companies from 60 countries and regions are taking part in the expo this year, data from the Commerce Ministry showed.
With a venue covering about 160,000 sq m, the event has added new exhibition zones at its main venue, including an artificial intelligence (AI) pavilion, a pavilion of new quality productive forces and an exhibition area for the blue, or marine, economy.
Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, noted that China and Asean have become each other’s largest trading partners, saying this is a testament to their deep economic interdependence, a high level of mutual trust and a shared commitment.
Against the backdrop of increasing global uncertainty, Asean and China should further diversify trade and investment strategies while jointly safeguarding peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region, Fadillah said.
Similar views were shared by Mai Van Chinh, deputy prime minister of Vietnam, who said that amid mounting economic challenges, including the rise of trade barriers, it is essential to jointly build and strengthen mutual trust in cooperation.
The Vietnamese deputy prime minister said that China and Asean members should further open markets to create more robust conditions for trade exchanges among countries, and deepen strategic alignment to enhance infrastructure connectivity between them.
“At the same time, science and technology should be fostered as a new driver of cooperation, with particular emphasis on advancing cutting-edge fields such as AI,” he added. — China Daily/ANN
