Original title: China-ASEAN join forces to inject East Asian power into world economic recovery in the post-epidemic era
(Focus on the China-ASEAN Expo) In the post-epidemic era, China and ASEAN join forces to inject East Asian power into the recovery of the world economy
China News Service, Nanning, September 14 (Yang Chen, Huang Lingyan) At the 18th China-ASEAN Expo (referred to as the China-ASEAN Expo), Chinese leaders proposed that they would link development strategies, expand economic and trade cooperation, deepen anti-epidemic cooperation, and cultivate In the development of new kinetic energy and other aspects, we will join hands with ASEAN to build a higher-level strategic partnership and jointly maintain the good momentum of prosperity and development in the region. China’s initiative has received positive responses from ASEAN countries. In the post-epidemic era, what does China-ASEAN bilateral cooperation mean for regional economic recovery? What contribution will it make to the recovery of the world economy? Bring many expectations to the outside world.
Full of momentum: the upgrade of the free trade agreement stimulates bilateral cooperation
The 18th China-ASEAN Expo, which closed on the 13th, organized and signed 179 international and domestic cooperation projects with a total investment of more than 300 billion yuan. A positive signal for ASEAN to deepen cooperation.
After the “upgraded version” of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement officially came into effect, the quality and level of bilateral trade and investment have been further improved, and economic and trade cooperation has continued to maintain a momentum of rapid development.
In 2020, as the world economy shrinks by 4.4% and there is a deep recession, China-ASEAN regional economic growth has become a bright spot, with bilateral trade volume exceeding US$685.28 billion, making each other’s largest trading partner. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade increased by 38.2% year-on-year, continuing to show a strong growth momentum.
ASEAN Secretary-General Lin Yuhui said at the China-ASEAN Expo that under the influence of the epidemic, the ASEAN economy has recovered strongly this year and is expected to achieve a growth of 4.1% and an increase of 5.3% next year.
To build the cornerstone of regional economic recovery, ASEAN Secretary-General Lin Yuhui stated that ASEAN will step up its implementation of a series of internal initiatives and further strengthen cooperation with China and other partners, so as to better enhance economic vitality and resilience in the post-epidemic era.
Zhuang Guotu, chairman of the China Southeast Asian Association and a distinguished professor of Xiamen University, said that the trade relationship between China and ASEAN has been highly integrated in the past 30 years. This degree of economic integration is very rare in global regional cooperation and will inject vitality into regional economic recovery. Drive the world economy into a recovery track.
Strategic docking: release more demand for post-epidemic recovery
The most commendable aspect of cooperation between China and ASEAN is to take care of each other’s concerns. At the opening ceremony of the China-ASEAN Expo, China proposed to strengthen the alignment with ASEAN’s development strategy, which will release more demand for economic recovery after the epidemic.
The Chinese side stated that it will actively link up with the “ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework” and other economic recovery measures, steadily promote the construction of major projects such as the China-Laos railway and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, improve the level of regional interconnection, and build smart cities, 5G, artificial intelligence, e-commerce and other new technologies. Cooperation highlights, strengthen sustainable development cooperation, and help bilateral trade and investment cooperation to deepen and become more substantial.
In fact, China has successfully promoted the development of the Lancang-Mekong cooperation and the new international land-sea trade channel, which has further unblocked the foreign trade of the Mekong countries and better shared the market of hundreds of millions of people. At the same time, this has also promoted cooperation in areas such as production capacity, cross-border economy, and infrastructure, deepened regional connectivity and development, and provided new impetus for the recovery of the Lancang-Mekong countries after the epidemic.
In recent years, with the steady progress of China and ASEAN’s high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road”, the scale of bilateral investment cooperation has continued to expand. The adjacent geographic location, rising consumption levels, continuous improvement of infrastructure and broad market prospects make ASEAN increasingly one of the preferred regions for Chinese companies to invest overseas. In 2020, China’s direct investment in ASEAN was US$14.36 billion, a year-on-year increase of 52.1%; ASEAN’s actual investment in China was US$7.95 billion, an increase of 1%.
RCEP Implementation: Inject East Asian Power into World Economic Recovery
There are three major economic circles in the world today: North American Economic Circle, European Economic Circle and East Asian Economic Circle. Facing the impact of the epidemic and the challenges of counter-globalization, Europe and the United States are overwhelmed with their own efforts. The East Asian economic circle, which has always maintained a strong regional economic growth, will use the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) as a complete and unified carrier to inject East Asian power into world economic growth. .
The epidemic has exposed the hidden risks behind the excessively thin and long supply chains of the global industrial chain. After RCEP takes effect, it will expand the production network, create new industrial chains and industrial clusters, and effectively maintain the stability and security of regional and global industrial chains and supply chains.
RCEP reflects that open international trade is the top priority for achieving sustainable economic development. Qiang Wanneri, director of the Asian Vision Institute, believes that RCEP reaffirms its common commitment to an open, inclusive and rule-based multilateral trading system, which is conducive to building an open world economy and boosting economic confidence.
RCEP accounts for 30% of global GDP, and its influence on the world economy cannot be underestimated. Cao Jing, deputy secretary-general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat of China, Japan and South Korea, said that a higher level of openness, a larger market, and a more complete policy will give rise to more new development opportunities and potentials. As a huge unified market, the trade and investment effects of RCEP will accelerate the recovery of the world economy after the epidemic.
At present, Thailand and Singapore in ASEAN countries, and China and Japan in non-ASEAN countries have successively approved the agreement. All RCEP member states will promote the agreement to enter into force on January 1, 2022. (over)
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