China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will enhance their trade relationship, driven by closer supply chain connectivity and vast consumer market potential, as they work to consolidate their role as each other's largest trading partners, said market watchers and business leaders on Monday.
\nAlthough large-scale infrastructure projects have long been the hallmark of Chinese companies in Southeast Asia, the region is increasingly recognized as one of China's most vibrant trading partners as bilateral ties enter a new phase of growth, said Wan Zhe, a professor specializing in regional economic development at Beijing Normal University.
\nLi Guanghui, dean of academic affairs of the China-ASEAN School of Economics at Guangxi University in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said the future implementation of Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, together with deeper exchanges under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and continued collaboration through the Belt and Road Initiative, is expected to support long-term trade growth.
\nChina has maintained its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for the past five years, said the Ministry of Commerce.
\nBilateral trade rose 9.7 percent year-on-year to 4.93 trillion yuan ($692.42 billion) in the first eight months, accounting for 16.7 percent of China's total foreign trade, said the General Administration of Customs.
\nSuch vibrant two-way trade has also created opportunities for Chinese manufacturers to deepen their presence in ASEAN markets, said Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the Beijing-based China Association of International Trade.
\nLi said that by leveraging regional demand and adapting to local preferences, a growing number of Chinese manufacturers are shifting from simply exporting products to offering tailored solutions and localized innovation.
\nFor instance, Ningbo Weiyun Electronic Co, a hardware manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, has tailored its research and innovation to the practical needs of Southeast Asian consumers, tackling issues such as differing electrical plug standards across the region.
\n"This targeted approach has earned our products strong recognition and popularity in markets such as Malaysia and Thailand," said Chai Jianlu, Ningbo Weiyun's president. "For the next step, we will actively expand into the Philippines and Vietnam, seeking more diversified and sustainable growth opportunities."
\nAccording to data from Ningbo Customs, Ningbo Weiyun's exports to ASEAN reached nearly 42 million yuan between January and August, up 18.3 percent year-on-year.
\nLuxshare Intelligent Manufacture Technology (Changshu) Co, a Changshu, Jiangsu province-based electronic components manufacturer, saw its exports to ASEAN exceed 240 million yuan during the January-August period, up nearly 400 percent year-on-year, said Nanjing Customs.
\n"We have paid close attention to the rising consumer demand in Southeast Asian markets. Since the beginning of the year, with accessories for consumer products such as mobile phones, earphones and smartwatches entering large-scale mass production in the region, our exports to ASEAN countries, especially Vietnam, have grown rapidly," said Xiao Lu, the company's manager for Customs affairs.
\nAlongside the trade growth, improved regional connectivity projects are strengthening China-ASEAN economic ties. The China-Laos Railway, for example, handled over 3.43 million metric tons of imports and exports in the first seven months, with a trade value exceeding 15.4 billion yuan, up 6 percent and 41 percent on a yearly basis, respectively, said Kunming Customs. At present, the China-Laos Railway serves 19 countries, with the range of import and export goods expanding from over 500 in 2022 to more than 3,600 varieties now.
\nContact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
\n", - "content": "China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will enhance their trade relationship, driven by closer supply chain connectivity and vast consumer market potential, as they work to consolidate their role as each other's largest trading partners, said market watchers and business leaders on Monday.
\nAlthough large-scale infrastructure projects have long been the hallmark of Chinese companies in Southeast Asia, the region is increasingly recognized as one of China's most vibrant trading partners as bilateral ties enter a new phase of growth, said Wan Zhe, a professor specializing in regional economic development at Beijing Normal University.
\nLi Guanghui, dean of academic affairs of the China-ASEAN School of Economics at Guangxi University in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said the future implementation of Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, together with deeper exchanges under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and continued collaboration through the Belt and Road Initiative, is expected to support long-term trade growth.
\nChina has maintained its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for the past five years, said the Ministry of Commerce.
\nBilateral trade rose 9.7 percent year-on-year to 4.93 trillion yuan ($692.42 billion) in the first eight months, accounting for 16.7 percent of China's total foreign trade, said the General Administration of Customs.
\nSuch vibrant two-way trade has also created opportunities for Chinese manufacturers to deepen their presence in ASEAN markets, said Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the Beijing-based China Association of International Trade.
\nLi said that by leveraging regional demand and adapting to local preferences, a growing number of Chinese manufacturers are shifting from simply exporting products to offering tailored solutions and localized innovation.
\nFor instance, Ningbo Weiyun Electronic Co, a hardware manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, has tailored its research and innovation to the practical needs of Southeast Asian consumers, tackling issues such as differing electrical plug standards across the region.
\n"This targeted approach has earned our products strong recognition and popularity in markets such as Malaysia and Thailand," said Chai Jianlu, Ningbo Weiyun's president. "For the next step, we will actively expand into the Philippines and Vietnam, seeking more diversified and sustainable growth opportunities."
\nAccording to data from Ningbo Customs, Ningbo Weiyun's exports to ASEAN reached nearly 42 million yuan between January and August, up 18.3 percent year-on-year.
\nLuxshare Intelligent Manufacture Technology (Changshu) Co, a Changshu, Jiangsu province-based electronic components manufacturer, saw its exports to ASEAN exceed 240 million yuan during the January-August period, up nearly 400 percent year-on-year, said Nanjing Customs.
\n"We have paid close attention to the rising consumer demand in Southeast Asian markets. Since the beginning of the year, with accessories for consumer products such as mobile phones, earphones and smartwatches entering large-scale mass production in the region, our exports to ASEAN countries, especially Vietnam, have grown rapidly," said Xiao Lu, the company's manager for Customs affairs.
\nAlongside the trade growth, improved regional connectivity projects are strengthening China-ASEAN economic ties. The China-Laos Railway, for example, handled over 3.43 million metric tons of imports and exports in the first seven months, with a trade value exceeding 15.4 billion yuan, up 6 percent and 41 percent on a yearly basis, respectively, said Kunming Customs. At present, the China-Laos Railway serves 19 countries, with the range of import and export goods expanding from over 500 in 2022 to more than 3,600 varieties now.
\nContact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
\n", - "category": "", - "link": "https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/html5/2025-09/16/content_013_68c87df1ed50ccabe1519759.htm#013BUSINESS", - "creator": "", - "pubDate": "Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:21:05 +0000", - "enclosure": "", - "enclosureType": "", - "image": "", - "id": "", - "language": "", - "folder": "双语", - "feed": "ChinaDaily", - "read": false, - "favorite": false, - "created": false, - "tags": [], - "hash": "bc8a11c85300051796c9344e00f90986", - "highlights": [] - }, { "title": "005CHINA - Xinjiang county's cotton fields fully mechanized", "description": "![](\"https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/resfile/2025-09-15/005/20250915_005_02_35.png\")
\n![](\"https://mobile.chinadaily.com.cn/cn/resfile/2025-09-15/005/20250915_005_02_19.png\")
A cotton harvester picks cotton in the fields of Daheyanzi town, Jinghe county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, last year.
\nEarlier in September, in the vast cotton fields of Jinghe county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, no workers were seen bent under the sun. Instead, drones had just finished spraying defoliants to hasten boll opening and leaf fall.
\nIn about 10 days, harvesting machines will roll in, completing a cotton production cycle that is now fully mechanized.
\nJinghe, located in the Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture, is a major producer of early-maturing cotton in northern Xinjiang. In 2024, the county's demonstration fields produced 11 metric tons of cotton per hectare, setting a national record.
\nOchirbat, head of the Bortala agriculture and rural affairs bureau, said mechanization in planting, managing and harvesting cotton in the county has reached 100 percent, greatly reducing labor needs.
\nIn the past, tending 1,040 hectares of cotton in Shartur village, which is part of Jinghe, required large numbers of hired hands for irrigation, spraying and picking. Now, mechanization has shortened the harvest period from 20 days to just five, and planting efficiency has improved by 40 percent, Ochirbat said.
\nCombined with government subsidies for target price and premium cotton, farmers' average net income per hectare has doubled in five years, from 4,500 yuan ($632.20) to more than 9,000 yuan. Most of the 130 households in the village now earn at least 30,000 yuan more annually, according to the bureau.
\n"Many farmers lease their land to cooperatives and larger growers. Freed from heavy farm work, they are opening restaurants, shops and homestays, or working in textile enterprises at local industrial parks," Ochirbat said.
\nSome have joined the growing rural tourism and garden economy, planting vegetables and fruits in their courtyards and diversifying their income sources, he added.
\n"The biggest change is labor savings," said Xuan Baolin, a veteran operator with a farm machinery cooperative in Jinghe.
\nA high-horsepower tractor at the cooperative can sow far more in a day than manual labor ever could, while a harvester has replaced hundreds of pickers. As a result, labor costs have dropped by more than 60 percent annually, Xuan said.
\n"A decade ago, 4.67 hectares required a dozen people working 50 days to pick the cotton. This year, one harvester can handle at least 33.3 hectares in 10 hours."
\nMeanwhile, large-scale cotton farmers in the village are benefiting from intelligent technologies. The 10-hectare fields of Ding Hongshan are equipped with seeders guided by Beidou satellite navigation, smart water-fertilizer systems and drones for crop protection.
\n"In the past, it took five days of manual labor to irrigate once a week. Now I can control irrigation with a smartphone app, saving more than 30 percent of water and cutting labor costs," he said.
\nThe yield of his fields in 2025 is expected to reach an above-average 7.5 tons per hectare, with 85 percent classified as high-quality cotton, giving him a net income of around 90,000 yuan after subsidies.
\nTechnology upgrades have lifted village yields to more than 6 tons per hectare. Shartur's cotton output value is forecast to exceed 20 million yuan in 2025.
\nAccording to the bureau, the prefecture has planted nearly 106,000 hectares of cotton in 2025, and the total output of lint cotton is expected to exceed 220,000 tons, 18,000 tons more than in 2024.
\nOchirbat said the region will further improve mechanized harvesting, enhance the quality of defoliation and picking, and promote domestically made harvesters.
\nzhaoyimeng@chinadaily.com.cn
\n",