Beijing Youth Daily:

In recent years, ASEAN has remained China's largest trading partner. I would like to inquire about the imports and exports between China and ASEAN since the beginning of this year. Thank you. 

Lyu Daliang:

Thank you for your question. Let me start by introducing the trade performance between China and ASEAN. In the first three quarters this year, imports and exports between China and ASEAN reached 4.68 trillion yuan, up 0.8% year on year, accounting for 15.2% of China's total foreign trade. ASEAN remains China's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade and economic exchanges have maintained a sound momentum for development. To be specific:

First, there's a deepening of industrial integration, with close two-way trade in intermediate products. Since 2012, ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner in the trade of intermediate products. In the first three quarters of the year, 64.3% of the combined import and export value between China and ASEAN came from the trade of intermediate goods. China and ASEAN have closely cooperated in the electronic information and automobile industries. In the first three quarters, ASEAN has also been China's biggest source for the import of components for audio and video equipment and display modules of tablets, with rapid growth achieved in their import value. At the same time, China's exports of automotive components, diodes, automatic data processing equipment accessories, and lithium batteries have all seen various degrees of growth.

Second, our cooperation has been continuously broadened, and the trade of agricultural products has been facilitated with a greater variety. Two major cross-border gateways, namely, the rail-sea intermodal trains along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China and the China-Laos Railway, have been instrumental in boosting bilateral trade and the market access for agricultural food products has been actively promoted. In addition, we've been actively facilitating the entry of ASEAN's unique agricultural products into the Chinese market. In the first three quarters, China imported 193.24 billion yuan worth of agricultural products from ASEAN, an increase of 6.5%. The import performance of certain specific agricultural products was impressive. For example, dried and fresh fruits and nuts, saw exports worth 61.46 billion yuan, up 35.3%, among which fresh durian, mangosteen, and pineapple were up 81.1%, 17%, and 14.4%, respectively.

Last month, China held the 20th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. Over the past 20 years, the scale of trade between China and the ASEAN has achieved an increase of 6 trillion yuan, reaching 6.42 trillion yuan in 2022. China and ASEAN have been each other's largest trading partners for three consecutive years. Looking ahead, with the full implementation of the RCEP and accelerating progress in negotiations on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement 3.0, the scope of cooperation between China and the ASEAN will be further expanded, and exchanges in areas related to economy and trade will be deepened. There is a huge potential for trade development between China and the ASEAN, and the "cake" for mutually beneficial cooperation will continue to grow. Thank you.