Data platform to help China, ASEAN control diseases across their borders

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations launched a data platform for the control and prevention of plant and animal diseases, during a meeting in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Saturday.

Through the platform, China and ASEAN members can follow unified regulations in the monitoring, prevention and control of animal and plant diseases across their borders, and will have more intensified and effective cooperation in this field, Li Jianwei, chief of animal and plant quarantine supervision at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said during the launch ceremony for the platform at the Fifth China-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The meeting was attended by 95 delegates from China and the 10 ASEAN members.

In addition, the platform will facilitate trade between China and ASEAN, resulting in a swifter flow of agricultural products, he said.

"With accelerated economic globalization, animal and plant diseases have been transmitted more rapidly and extensively across borders," Li said. "This poses a serious threat to the global economy and the public health and ecological systems. China and ASEAN also face the same problem."

The platform will integrate related systems used by China and ASEAN members, such as animal and plant disease collection, monitoring, information management and warning systems, and evaluate risks of diseases spreading in order to offer rational and economical solutions for prevention and control, Li said.

More than 1 million metric tons of fruit from ASEAN members was exported to China last year through Guangxi, which borders Vietnam, up 45 percent year-on-year, according to the regional government.

Last year, entry-exit authorities across China intercepted 1.04 million batches of harmful species and prevented them from entering China, an increase of about 30 percent compared with the previous year, according to General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

To facilitate trade, the first pilot zone for facilitating border inspection and quarantine in China began operations in Pingxiang, Guangxi, in August.

"The speed of customs clearance of goods has increased by more than 60 percent since the pilot zone began operation in August," said Wang Jiwei, deputy chief of the Guangxi Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

Similar pilot zones will be promoted in other border areas in China by 2018 to facilitate trade, according to the Guangxi bureau.