This year marks the fifth anniversary of the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The 29th China-ASEAN Summit, which began on Sunday, represents an opportunity for both sides to build on past achievements and work together to create a prosperous home, providing greater stability and certainty for peace and development in the region.
Premier Li Qiang is attending the two-day meeting in Manila. Dialogue based on mutual respect and equality helps enhance mutual trust, reduce misunderstandings, and enable China and ASEAN to better manage differences through peaceful consultation. Notably, negotiations between the two sides on a code of conduct in the South China Sea have made some progress.
Additionally, the economic and trade ties between China and ASEAN have benefited the region. In the first 10 months of this year, the total value of trade between China and ASEAN reached 7.68 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion), marking a 24.2 percent year-on-year increase. China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years as of last year, while ASEAN has been China's biggest trading partner for six successive years.
The robust growth of China-ASEAN trade serves to stabilize the global supply chains, providing strong support for the steady economic development of the region and beyond.
Both sides are expected to seize the opportunity of the meeting to focus on bringing into force the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol as early as possible and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. These initiatives aim to reduce trade costs, improve customs clearance efficiency, and effectively offset downward pressure from external markets. In particular, the development of the CAFTA 3.0 can help accelerate the shift from market opening to institutional connectivity between China and the ASEAN member states.
Compared to earlier versions, which focused on tariff reductions and market access, the CAFTA 3.0 framework emphasizes coordinating rules and fostering cooperation in new areas to build a more resilient and integrated regional economy. The two sides have already charted a road map for digital collaboration in areas such as artificial intelligence, digital security and the digital economy, and have committed to working together on green transition and energy security. It is hoped the meeting in Manila can help provide a timely boost for China and ASEAN to expand cooperation in these new and forward-looking areas.
However, it must be pointed out that as the rotating chair of ASEAN, the Philippines should play a positive role in promoting regional cooperation and exchanges, and should avoid letting a handful of domestic politicians undermine the stable environment for regional development and create division. For instance, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr's recent provocative remarks about Manila preparing for various Taiwan Strait "contingencies" expose his political bias and self-interest, and contradict the Philippines' commitments on the one-China principle. They also run counter to the common aspiration for peace and development in the region.
With leaders of multiple partners of ASEAN also due to visit Manila during this period, the stakes are high. Manila must not allow the series of meetings to follow the pattern of last month's ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus in Cebu, the Philippines, which was almost turned into a platform for bloc confrontation promoted by the Philippines and its allies. As ASEAN's rotating chair, the Philippines has a responsibility to advance the region's shared development agenda, not hijack it to serve the narrow interests of certain domestic political forces.
For its part, China remains committed to a shared future with ASEAN, to good-neighborliness and friendship, and to resolving differences through dialogue. Other ASEAN countries should also clearly recognize that China is a responsible major country genuinely committed to regional stability and shared prosperity.
