Jakarta forum envisages more vibrant ASEAN-China relations and forming new growth engines

Based on all the achievements of their cooperation over the past decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China will be able to jointly chart new pathways for further bringing prosperity to their people, a forum heard on June 19.

To this end, China and ASEAN need to collaborate in key technology sectors for creating new economic opportunities, and cooperation between the two regions in digital technology and innovation are indispensable nowadays and in the future, speakers said at the Jakarta Forum on ASEAN-China Relations.

Themed "New Areas, New Engines and New Opportunities", the forum featured 16 speakers from ASEAN and China, discussing "opportunities and challenges in emerging areas under globalization" and "cooperation in emerging areas to promote regional inclusivity and sustainability".

China's Ambassador to ASEAN Hou Yanqi said that ASEAN and China must remain committed to the principles that have long guided their cooperation for them to achieve their shared goals.

"That is: dialog, openness, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence," Hou said in her remarks to open the forum.

She mentioned the progressive bilateral relations carried on over the past three decades, saying that they "have delivered tangible benefits to our peoples".

Hou said China and ASEAN are currently negotiating the new ASEAN-China Plan of Action 2026-30 and the two parties are confident that the Plan of Action will continue to promote cooperation across all pillars.

Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn pictured how ASEAN-China partnership had been built "brick by brick, milestone by milestone", which had delivered substantial economic achievements.

He said the two-way trade has surged dramatically, from $105.9 billion in 2004 to $770 billion in 2024, accounting for 20 percent of ASEAN's total trade.

Kao, delivering his keynote address, called for ASEAN and China to pioneer forward-looking partnership and highlighted five strategic areas that would redefine the future of ASEAN-China relations.

Those five areas are the digital economy, the green transition, supply chain connectivity and resilience, transport connectivity, and tourism cooperation.

On digital economy, the ASEAN secretary-general illustrated how ASEAN represents one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets.

With the region currently having over 480 million internet users, ASEAN's digital economy is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030. Complementing this is China's vast digital ecosystem, which is home to the world's largest online consumer base, with one billion internet users and 80 percent mobile internet penetration, Kao said.

Ong Tee Keat, president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific, said that ASEAN-China partnership had always been dubbed one of the most successful models of multilateral cooperation in Asia-Pacific.

"It has the most number of mechanisms of cooperation, accounting for almost 20 percent of the total collaborative frameworks that ASEAN has with its 11 official dialogue partners," Ong said as a forum panelist.

Ong said that with rapidly expanding digital economy in ASEAN, the region's economic output is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2030.

Senior Fellow and Co-coordinator of ASEAN Studies at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Joanne Lin Weiling noted ASEAN's vibrant tourism industry thanks to rising numbers of visitors from China, which are bigger than the numbers of ASEAN visitors to China.

She said tourism strengthens people-to-people connectivity and that ASEAN and China need to continue maximizing and increasing tourism operation.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.