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By Zhu Zhenming

MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose annual summit will be held in Jakarta from Sept 5 to 7, has made economic recovery its priority in the post-pandemic period. It is in this regard that China-ASEAN cooperation, which has been promoting common development and prosperity for years, has gained added importance.

China-ASEAN cooperation has contributed to the economic robustness of Southeast Asian countries, and could hasten its recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First, China-ASEAN economic cooperation has already been facilitating regional economic recovery, and that is borne out by their trade volume. In fact, China-ASEAN trade has been growing at a fast pace over the past years, allowing ASEAN to overtake the European Union in 2020 to become China's largest trading partner. In 2021, China-ASEAN goods trade reached $878.2 billion, up 28.1 percent year-on-year. And in 2022, two-way trade increased 11.2 percent year-on-year to $975.3 billion — an increase of 120 percent over the past decade.

On the investment front, ASEAN has become one of China's major outbound investment destinations and sources of foreign direct investment. By July this year, two-way investment topped $380 billion, with more than 6,500 Chinese enterprises directly investing in ASEAN member states. This robust two-way trade has boosted the region's economic recovery.

Second, improved connectivity between China and ASEAN member states has expanded their markets, and helped them make remarkable achievements in infrastructure under the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN members' development policies.

The China-Laos Railway, launched in 2021, is an ideal example of what China-ASEAN cooperation can achieve. The 1,035-kilometer-long railway, which links the Laotian capital of Vientiane with Kunming, capital of China's Yunnan province, has generated benefits for local people on both sides. The railway has helped Laos, to some extent, to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. The railway passes through the Laotian province of Luang Prabang, which has many tourist attractions. Last year, Luang Prabang witnessed more than 500,000 passenger trips which brought tourism revenue of $216 million that helped the local economy. The number of trips this year is likely to increase to 1 million and they are expected to bring $360 million in tourism revenue.

The China-Laos Railway has already made about 20.09 million passenger trips, with 17.09 million of them being on the Chinese side, according to China Railway Corp, and transported more than 24 million tons of freight. Thanks to the railway, Laos has now transformed from a landlocked country into a land-linked country. It could even become a transportation hub in the Mekong River region and a dry port for China and Southeast Asian countries.

The railway has already been extended to Thailand, reducing the transportation time for China-bound cargo from that country by more than one-third. And in the first five months of this year, Thailand exported goods worth 2.84 billion baht (about $80 million) to China through the extended China-Laos Railway, 72 percent of which were fresh durian.

The railway, among other things, has helped Thai farmers increase their income by selling their produce in a new market in the post-pandemic period. They are now more confident about their economic recovery. The work on the China-Thailand Railway and its extension to the China-Laos-Thailand Railway has been expedited.

Third, the digital economy has become a new contributor to China-ASEAN cooperation and ASEAN member states' economic recovery. According to former ASEAN secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi, China is leading the development of digital infrastructure and is an important partner of ASEAN in promoting the digital economy. In today's age, the digital economy is crucial for social development, employment generation and improvement of people's well-being.

No wonder China and ASEAN declared 2020 as the China-ASEAN Year of Digital Economy Cooperation, demonstrating the readiness of both sides to seize the opportunities presented by the new round of technological and industrial revolution to deepen their cooperation in such fields as artificial intelligence, big data and cybersecurity.

China and ASEAN are deepening their cooperation in the digital economy. For example, Chinese and Thai enterprises are working together to develop digital projects such as "smart" transportation, tourism and healthcare in Thailand, while cross-border e-commerce platforms have been introduced in Thailand so farmers can use them to sell their produce and increase their incomes, which will help them to shake off poverty.

Moreover, Chinese enterprises are cooperating with their counterparts in Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia in fields such as the internet and cloud computing. And there is no doubt China-ASEAN cooperation in digital economy is injecting new impetus into social development, promoting common prosperity and helping maintain regional stability.

However, the Southeast Asian region still faces uncertainties due to the fast-changing global landscape. Therefore, China should further strengthen relations and deepen cooperation with ASEAN, and make greater contribution to ASEAN's economic recovery and growth, in order to promote common development and shared prosperity.

The author is a professor with the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.