Photo taken on May 27, 2020 shows a container truck carrying Vietnamese lychees exported to China at Kim Thanh II International Border Gate in Vietnam's northern Lao Cai province, which borders China. (VNA via Xinhua)

President Xi Jinping announced on Monday several major initiatives to boost economic cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including striving to import $150 billion worth of agricultural products from ASEAN countries over the next five years, offering additional financial assistance to the bloc's economic recovery and anti-epidemic efforts, as well as providing advanced technology. 

Xi made the remarks while attending and chairing a special summit commemorating the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations on Monday via video link. 

During the meeting, the two sides jointly announced the establishment of a China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a new milestone for the relationship that will inject new impetus into the development of both the region and the world.

On the economic front, Xi proposed several initiatives for deepening cooperation between China and ASEAN, including calling for working toward a new round of upgrade of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area at an early date, and increasing imports from the bloc.

China has a vast domestic market that will always be open to ASEAN countries, Xi said, adding that China is ready to import more quality products from ASEAN countries, including buying up to $150 billion worth of agricultural products from ASEAN in the next five years.

A plane carrying the third batch raw materials for Sinovac coronavirus vaccines arrives at Sukarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Jan. 12, 2021. (Lukas/Presidential Palace/Handout via Xinhua)

Also, Xi announced that China is ready to provide ASEAN with another $1.5 billion of development assistance in the next three years to support ASEAN countries' fight against COVID-19 and economic recovery.

To boost cooperation in technology, Xi also said that China will launch the China-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Enhancing Program, and will provide 1,000 items of advanced and applicable technology to ASEAN and support a program for 300 young scientists from ASEAN to come to China for exchanges in the next five years.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China and the bloc established dialogue relations in 1991.

People walk out of the venue of the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

The newly announced initiatives, which came as the two have created the most successful example of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region with mutual respect and friendly negotiations throughout the past 30 years, are set to pave the way for more integrated economic ties in the region, analysts said.

China and ASEAN have already had highly integrated economic ties over the past three decades, with the two already becoming each other's largest trading partner, Shen Minghui, a research fellow at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Over the past three decades, China-ASEAN trade has jumped from less than $8 billion to $684.6 billion. In 2009, China overtook Japan and the EU, and it then became the first and largest trading partner of ASEAN for 12 consecutive years.

Shen noted that as the COVID-19 is still spreading in many parts of the world, China's support would be vital to ASEAN countries' post-epidemic economic recoveries. Shen expected that apart from medical assistance, China might also offer convenience in areas such as personnel exchanges and customs clearance for the bloc.

China has provided all ASEAN member states with over 300 million COVID-19 vaccines and a large volume of emergency medical supplies. China has also sent medical expert teams to help build virus-testing labs and worked on vaccine trials with several ASEAN member states, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency on October 24.

Shen further noted that China-ASEAN relations have quite promising prospects in cooperation in the digital economy and related technology, especially in new infrastructure sectors such as 5G.

"Political interference is also less between China and ASEAN countries in the sector, which might become a new driving force of bilateral exchanges," Shen added.

Shen also called for more ASEAN countries to finish preparations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a landmark achievement of regional cooperation among 15 Asia-Pacific nations, to push regional development to a new high and further inject momentum for the next three golden decades between China and ASEAN.