Shenzhen Satellite TV: 

Would you please provide an overview of China's imports and exports with ASEAN in 2023? What are your views on future trends? Thank you.

Lyu Daliang:

Thank you for your question. In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the establishment of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Through years of effort, economic integration between China and ASEAN has continued to deepen, and economic and trade cooperation has accelerated. In 2023, trade between China and ASEAN continued to grow. Let's take a closer look.

First, both sides are each other's largest trading partners. Since 2013, the average annual growth rate of trade between China and ASEAN has been 8.8%, which is 3.8 percentage points higher than China's overall average annual growth rate during the same period. In 2023, bilateral trade continued to grow, reaching 6.41 trillion yuan. ASEAN has maintained its position as China's largest trading partner for four consecutive years, and China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for many years.

Second, the two sides' industrial and supply chains are further interconnected. China and ASEAN have leveraged their respective comparative advantages to deepen the integration and development of their industrial and supply chains. In 2023, China's imports and exports of intermediate goods with ASEAN reached 4.13 trillion yuan. ASEAN has remained China's largest trading partner for intermediate goods for many consecutive years. Cooperation between the two sides in industries such as green energy and consumer electronics continues to deepen. China's exports of lithium batteries and solar cells to ASEAN, as well as China's imports of audiovisual equipment components, have experienced rapid growth. At the same time, ASEAN is a major source of imports for China's agricultural and energy products. Almost all of China's palm oil imports come from Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Myanmar are the largest sources of coal and tin ore imports for China, respectively.

Third, land border crossings for passengers and cargo are thriving. Following the shift in COVID-19 prevention and control strategies, the flow of passengers and cargo at land border ports has resumed in an orderly manner, leading to a significant increase in cross-border trade. The daily number of inbound and outbound personnel at Guangxi's Dongxing Port and Yunnan's Hekou Port exceeds 10,000 on average, restoring the bustling scenes of the past. In April 2023, the China-Laos Railway passenger service officially commenced, facilitating travel for people along the route. By the end of the year, customs had monitored and supervised 114,200 inbound and outbound personnel via the China-Laos Railway.

Looking to the future, as negotiations for the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 accelerate, the scope of cooperation between the two sides will further expand, and bilateral trade will continue to maintain a positive development trend. In the next step, customs will implement various measures to facilitate customs clearance, steadily promote intelligent border port building along the China-Vietnam border, strongly support the high-quality development of the China-Laos Railway, actively support the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and contribute to the greater development of China-ASEAN bilateral trade. Thank you.