China and ASEAN sign Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol

On October 28th, under the joint witness of Prime Minister Li Qiang and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other leaders of ASEAN countries, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Zavlu signed the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol on behalf of China and ASEAN respectively in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  The upgrade of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 fully reflects the solemn commitment of both sides to support multilateralism and free trade, and the firm determination to jointly build an open, inclusive, rule-based regional integrated market and a mutually beneficial and resilient regional supply chain system. It will create rich market and industrial cooperation opportunities for both sides and enterprises around the world, inject strong confidence and momentum into regional and even global economic growth, and have important demonstration significance for countries to work together to address international economic and trade challenges.

China and ASEAN have been in the process of building a free trade zone since 2002. The 1.0 version of the free trade zone was fully completed in 2010, and the 2.0 version was upgraded in 2015. The construction of version 3.0 was officially launched in November 2022 and negotiations were fully completed by May 2025. The upgrade of China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 covers a total of 9 areas, including digital economy, green economy, supply chain connectivity, standards and technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, competition and consumer protection, small and medium-sized enterprises, and economic and technological cooperation. After the signing of the protocol, both parties will follow their respective domestic approval procedures to promote the early entry into force and implementation of the protocol.