Keeping pace with the times and continuously developing, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area benefits over 2 billion people
2026 marks the 16th anniversary of the comprehensive establishment of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area. Over the years, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area has flourished, benefiting over 2 billion people. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for 5 consecutive years. With the continuous improvement of economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN, the two sides are moving from a "trading partner" mainly engaged in goods trade to a "community of shared future" deeply embedded in the industrial chain and value chain, and achieving mutual success. On October 28, 2025, China and ASEAN signed the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol. What are the highlights of version 3.0? What work is currently being carried out in various regions to prepare for the implementation of new policies in the future?
At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the freight dedicated channel at the Guangxi Friendship Pass Port located on the China Vietnam border was busy. Trucks loaded with export goods were clearing customs in an orderly manner, and these trucks were about to transport the goods to Vietnam. The reporter noticed that the trucks on one of the dedicated channels are very special, they are called "unmanned container trucks", which are container transport trucks without drivers and using autonomous driving technology. In recent years, with the rapid development of autonomous driving technology in China, there have been more and more "unmanned container trucks". Guangxi Youyiguan Port has also been updated and upgraded in a timely manner, setting up a dedicated channel for "unmanned container trucks" and greatly improving customs clearance efficiency.
The newly upgraded Guangxi Friendship Pass Port can be said to be a smart port that integrates many high-tech means. It is supported by AI technology, and customs clearance personnel only need to place orders on the smart port system. The entire process can be completed by the intelligent platform, with an efficiency improvement of about 75%, truly achieving "instant clearance".
Ye Ye, a police officer from the Friendship Pass Border Inspection Station of Guangxi Border Inspection General Station, said: "We have integrated technologies such as artificial intelligence, biometric recognition, and data interaction to achieve a three-step process of pre registration, autonomous collection, and rapid verification for vehicles and drivers to clear customs, making it a reality for data to run first and trucks to pass in seconds.
The digital upgrade and transformation of Guangxi Friendship Pass Smart Port is supported by the continuous expansion of China ASEAN Free Trade Area cooperation and deepening of economic integration.
On October 28, 2025, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol was signed, which is another important upgrade of cooperation between China and ASEAN based on the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of the Free Trade Area. One of the important contents of the newly signed protocol is to further enhance the level of trade facilitation, break down circulation barriers, and make economic and trade exchanges more efficient. The upgrade and renovation of the Friendship Pass Smart Port is one of the projects accelerated after the signing of the 3.0 version upgrade protocol.
Yuan Bo, Director of the Asia Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute: In the field of goods trade, 3.0 will further utilize digital technology to improve the level of facilitation. At the same time, 3.0 also adds international trade single window cooperation, which can provide a one-stop platform for enterprises to declare customs, track the customs clearance process of goods, reduce the clearance cost of enterprises, enhance the transparency of the clearance process, and optimize the business environment of enterprises.
In 2002, the leaders of China and the ten ASEAN countries announced the start of the process of building a free trade zone. Both sides uphold the principle of mutual benefit and win-win, and through friendly consultations, have successively reached and implemented agreements on goods trade, services trade, and investment. In 2010, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 1.0 version was fully established. Since the establishment of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area, both sides have continuously deepened economic and trade cooperation, reduced trade costs, and achieved remarkable results. Data shows that the China ASEAN Free Trade Area currently covers a population of over 2 billion and has a total trade value of 6.82 trillion yuan, making it one of the most dynamic free trade areas in the world.
One important reason why the China ASEAN Free Trade Area has achieved such impressive results in just over a decade is the continuous construction of a high standard cooperation system and the improvement of cooperation models. In the past 16 years, from the initial China ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement to the completion of the 1.0 version of the Free Trade Zone in 2010, and then from the 2.0 version, the original agreement has been enriched, improved, and enhanced in the fields of goods trade related rules, service trade, etc., to this upgrade to the 3.0 version: focusing on expanding cooperation in emerging fields, strengthening standard regulation interoperability, etc. China and ASEAN actively promote the formation of new consensus, continuously expand cooperation areas, formulate and improve various rules, and gradually deepen the integration and common development of economic and trade between the two sides.
Yuan Bo: From 1.0, which focused on market access, to 2.0, which achieved openness and upgrading, and 3.0, which promoted rules and the future, China and ASEAN have always kept up with changes in the international and domestic economic and trade situation, continuously improved and upgraded, kept pace with the times, and moved forward in this process. The China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 has added many new rules and areas, which are future oriented and can provide stronger driving support for the economic growth of both sides.
The upgraded protocol of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 version has many new highlights, among which one that is particularly noteworthy is the inclusion of emerging fields such as digital economy and green economy in the framework for the first time, expanding cooperation in emerging fields. This reflects the forward-looking and strategic vision of cooperation between the two sides, and helps deepen cooperation in developing new quality productive forces.
Recently, at a new energy production enterprise in Zhejiang, the production line is operating at full capacity to produce a batch of new energy storage batteries. This enterprise mainly manufactures a full range of energy storage products such as battery packs and energy storage containers, and exports them to ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Thailand. The person in charge of the enterprise told reporters that before this, the new energy industry had not been included in the cooperation framework of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area, and the technical certification standards for related products were not unified among ASEAN countries and China. In order to ensure that product imports and exports meet compliance standards, cumbersome procedures need to be handled.
The new China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade protocol includes emerging fields such as green economy and digital economy in the cooperation framework, and clarifies that member countries can refer to each other's standards when formulating their own technical compliance standards, encourage recognition of each other's qualification assessment results, etc. This will bring greater development space to relevant enterprises.
Zhai Kun, Vice Dean of the Institute of Regional and Country Studies at Peking University and Professor at the School of International Relations: From the perspective of economic development in the entire world economic region, China and ASEAN have entered a new stage of general cooperation that can drive greater regional cooperation in terms of quantity, quality, scope, and types. The inclusion of emerging fields is inevitable. From 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, it is a process of continuously incorporating new fields and new driving forces. China ASEAN cooperation in emerging fields is a particularly large lever that can not only promote cooperation between us, but also bring more countries in. From a strategic perspective, cooperation in emerging fields has further enriched and solidified the construction of a community with a shared future between China and ASEAN.
Another noteworthy highlight of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol is the enrichment of measures to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, in order to enhance their ability and opportunities to participate in international trade.
In international trade, small differences in tariffs often determine the profit or loss of a business. Qingdao Aibang International Trade Co., Ltd. is a medium-sized enterprise specializing in the import and export of agricultural products in the local area. The relevant person in charge of the enterprise told reporters that according to the China ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, China can levy tariffs on imported goods originating from ASEAN countries at a preferential rate of zero tariffs under the agreement. However, recently they imported a batch of dried black mung beans originating from Myanmar, which could not match the preferential tax rate items in China because the code filled in when applying for the certificate of origin in Myanmar was inconsistent with the code recognized by our customs. This once made him very worried.
Guo Xinwei, Import Manager of Shandong Qingdao Aibang International Trade Co., Ltd.: Due to differences between the certificates provided by foreign countries and the classification of our import declaration, we are very concerned that we cannot use the certificate of origin to enjoy zero tariffs.
However, what worried Guo Xinwei did not happen. The 3.0 version upgrade agreement signed this time clearly stated in the measures for small and medium-sized enterprises that both sides will further strengthen information sharing and communication, and help small and medium-sized enterprises improve their sustainable development capabilities. After the signing of the protocol, the Shandong commerce department began to proactively connect with the 3.0 version upgrade protocol for pilot testing.
In response to the situation of this batch of goods, Qingdao Customs has decided to apply zero tariff under the free trade agreement to the Myanmar dried black mung beans declared during this customs declaration based on innovative practices such as "allowing enterprises to enjoy reasonable tariff reductions under the free trade agreement even if there are some minor errors in non critical information or slight differences between documents in the import declaration".
Yuan Bo: For China and ASEAN, small and medium-sized enterprises are important pillars of national economic and social development. It is in this context that the 3.0 version has added a special chapter on small and medium-sized enterprises and built a comprehensive support system, such as establishing an information platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting the use of e-commerce, etc. These practices can help small and medium-sized enterprises, including start-ups, better participate in regional industrial and supply chain cooperation, and also better enjoy the open dividends of the free trade zone, promoting the prosperity and sustainable development of regional trade.
Obviously, the 3.0 version of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area has broken through the previous single preferential model centered on tariff reduction, marking a new stage of deeper and more comprehensive institutional opening-up in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. In the current complex and ever-changing international situation, as well as the rise of trade protectionism, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 focuses on future development and innovates economic and trade cooperation systems based on rules. This not only provides enterprises with a better business environment, but also allows consumers to enjoy richer goods and more convenient services.
The China ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 provides replicable and promotable "Chinese solutions" for global trade governance in various fields such as digital economy, green economy, and supply chain connectivity, demonstrating China's responsibility to promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.
The China ASEAN Free Trade Area has evolved from version 1.0 of "market access" to version 2.0 of "open upgrade", and then to version 3.0 of "rules and future", keeping pace with the times and continuously developing. After the implementation of the 3.0 version of the agreement, it will promote the upgrading of China ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, become an important practice for China to expand the network of high standard free trade zones, and provide important assistance for the implementation of China's "15th Five Year Plan" and "ASEAN Community Vision 2045". In today's era of unilateralism and protectionism, injecting more certainty into the development of the region and even the world.