Visitors attend the 21st China-ASEAN Expo on September 24, 2024. Photo: VCG

China is willing to work with ASEAN to deepen practical cooperation and write a new chapter in building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the 21st China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Ding called on China and ASEAN to advance open cooperation to a new level. Both sides should implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) with high quality, work for an early conclusion of the negotiations for version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA), steadily expand institutional opening-up, and build a more stable and smooth cross-border industrial and supply chain, he added.

China and ASEAN need to foster a new pattern of all-round connectivity, Ding said, urging the two sides to jointly build the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor at a high level, and make solid progress in the development of important economic corridors and key projects.

"With the implementation of the RCEP and the deepening of the construction of the China-ASEAN FTA, cooperation between the two sides has been expanding. In addition to the traditional areas of trade and investment, collaboration in emerging areas such as the auto industry and digital economy is also expected to be deepened," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

In 2023, China's auto exports to the 10 ASEAN member countries reached 539,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 24 percent. New-energy vehicle exports reached 316,000 units, up 100 percent, according to a statement that the China Automotive Technology and Research Center sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

"The automotive industry is important in Thailand. The Thai government has launched a number of measures including the Thailand 4.0 strategy to encourage the development of the auto manufacturing industry... and we welcome Chinese auto enterprises to invest in Thailand," Ekanit Romyanon, inspector general of Thailand's Ministry of Industry, said during a China-ASEAN Automotive Industry Cooperation and Development Forum on Tuesday.

Romyanon noted that China and Thailand can enhance vehicle-sector cooperation in trade facilitation, including harmonization of technical regulations, recognition of testing and certification, and mutual recognition arrangements in the auto sector. Supply chain integration and resilience are also needed in future collaboration, Romyanon said.

Wang noted that China-ASEAN cooperation has set a good example for regional collaboration, helping stabilize global supply and industrial chains, as well as injecting momentum into the world's economic development.

Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN reached $552 billion in January-July this year, up 7.7 percent year-on-year.