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xinhua news agency, beijing, september 23 title: 20 years of "super" growth! asean remains china's largest trading partner

xinhua news agency reporters zou duowei, huang yaoteng and qi qi

due to geographical proximity and cultural connections, bilateral trade between china and asean countries has been on the rise.

nowadays, southeast asian durians with rich varieties and affordable prices can be eaten in china, and "xiaodianlu" and mixue bingcheng have fully "landed" in the southeast asian market. china has remained asean's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, and asean has been china's largest trading partner for 4 consecutive years.

this is a drone photo of the nanning international convention and exhibition center taken on september 20, 2024. from september 24 to 28, the 21st china-asean expo will be held in nanning, guangxi. photo by xinhua news agency reporter zhou hua

on the 24th, the 21st china-asean expo will open in nanning, guangxi. as an important platform to promote trade and investment between china and asean, more than 3,000 companies will "join hands" in a series of activities to continue to expand the economic and trade "cake" of both sides in five days.

the latest data from the general administration of customs show that china's bilateral trade with asean countries increased from 876.38 billion yuan in 2004 to 6.41 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 11%, 3 percentage points faster than the overall growth rate of china's foreign trade in the same period. the proportion of bilateral trade in china's total foreign trade increased from 9.2% in 2004 to 15.4% in 2023.

in the first eight months of this year, asean continued to be china's largest trading partner. china's imports and exports to asean increased by 10% year-on-year, 4 percentage points faster than the overall growth rate of china's foreign trade, and its share of china's overall foreign trade remained stable at more than 15%.

"china and asean are jointly committed to the development of regional economic integration," said lv daliang, director of the statistics and analysis department of the general administration of customs.

in addition to the increase in "quantity", there is also an improvement in "quality".

in 2023, china's exports of high-tech, high-value-added products such as lithium batteries and solar cells to asean will grow rapidly; in the first eight months of this year, driven by cooperation in the fields of electronics and information, automobile manufacturing, textiles and clothing, china's imports and exports of intermediate products to asean increased by 9.6% year-on-year, 4.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of china's imports and exports of intermediate products in the same period.

mutual benefit and win-win are the essence of economic and trade cooperation. what are the driving forces behind the impressive "report card"?

——private enterprises have become the “main force”.

similar culture, similar consumption habits, a population of 600 million... against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth and weakening external demand, these characteristics make asean countries a must-fight place for chinese companies to "go overseas."

temu, a cross-border business platform under pinduoduo group, has successively "entered" the philippines, vietnam, thailand and other countries. kuanli aquatic products company in beihai city, guangxi province sells frozen cooked hairy clam meat, frozen cooked squid meat and other seafood to malaysia... private enterprises have stepped up their layout efforts in the asean market.

according to customs statistics, in the first eight months of this year, china's private enterprises' imports and exports to asean increased by 13.3% year-on-year, accounting for 62.2% of china's total imports and exports to asean during the same period, an increase of 1.8 percentage points over the same period last year.

on august 26, 2024, at the customs inspection platform of youyiguan port in pingxiang city, guangxi, staff members were inspecting a batch of imported durian. photo by xinhua news agency reporter lu boyan

——agricultural and food products have become popular.

at the youyiguan port in pingxiang city, chongzuo, guangxi, trucks loaded with all kinds of fruits drive into the china-asean (chongzuo) fruit trading center. many tropical fruits from asean countries, such as durian, dragon fruit, jackfruit, and mangosteen, enter the chinese market, while chinese vegetables, kale, grapes, mangoes, and other fruits and vegetables are also sold to asean countries from here.

the agricultural and food products business is booming.

asean will be the second largest source of china's agricultural product imports in 2023. in the first eight months of this year, china imported 161.34 billion yuan of asean agricultural products, of which dried and fresh fruits and edible aquatic products increased by 0.6% and 2.7% respectively; china exported 103.43 billion yuan of agricultural products to asean, of which vegetables, apples and grapes increased by 17.2%, 23.8% and 26.1% respectively.

——convenient customs clearance becomes a “plus point”.

customs clearance efficiency is directly related to the trade costs of enterprises. in order to help asean products enter the chinese consumer market faster, in recent years, innovative measures such as the "green channel" for rapid customs clearance of agricultural products, the "fruit express line" of beibu gulf port, holiday appointment customs clearance services, and the construction of designated supervision sites for inbound fruits have been launched one after another.

for example, through the "direct delivery" customs clearance mode implemented by kunming customs, trucks loaded with vietnamese chinese medicinal materials, laotian charcoal, thai fruits and other products can complete the process from entry to departure from the customs supervision area of ​​yunnan hekou port and be transported to the domestic market in as little as 15 minutes.

looking to the future, china and asean countries will uphold the spirit of win-win cooperation, build a common home of peace, tranquility, prosperity, beauty and friendship, and continue to move towards a closer china-asean community with a shared future.