ASEAN media leaders call for deeper trade ties with China at cooperation week

Representatives from both China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed hopes for fostering further China-ASEAN trade when attending the opening ceremony of the 2025 ASEAN Media Partners Cooperation Week in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday.

At the event, more than 200 government officials, media professionals, experts and scholars from China and ASEAN countries held in-depth dialogues and exchanges on the theme of "Openness, Culture, Shared Home."

The gathering follows the signing of ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 28, signaling a new era in their long-standing trade relationship.

The upgraded protocol is expected to expand economic and trade cooperation, enhance regional integration, and contribute to global trade growth.

Speaking at the event, Kem Gunawadh, secretary of state of the Ministry of Information of Cambodia, highlighted the unprecedented progress in Cambodia-China cooperation.

"As Cambodia continues to make progress in various sectors, Cambodia and China cooperation has reached an unprecedented stage. Let us have a more open mindset and more innovation approaches," he said.

China and ASEAN have shifted from traditional trade exchanges to deeper integration of industrial and supply chains over the past few years.

In 2024, bilateral trade with Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore each exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars each. Among them, China has been Thailand's largest trading partner for 12 years.

"[We are] promoting creative economy with the aim of enhancing trading, investment, tourism and cultural cooperation between the two nations," said Dhanakorn Srisooksai, chief executive officer of Thai Media Fund.

In the first seven months of the year, trade between China and the ASEAN reached 597 billion U.S. dollars, up 8.2 percent year on year and accounting for 16.7 percent of China's total foreign trade for the same period.

China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's top trading partner for the past five years.