China firmly supports building of ASEAN Community: Chinese premier

China

China firmly supports building of ASEAN Community: Chinese premier

2024-10-10 19:42 Last Updated At：23:17

China firmly supports the building of the Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as ASEAN's central position in regional cooperation and its greater role in international affairs, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday.

China is ready to have in-depth exchange of views with all parties on major regional cooperation issues and contribute to joint efforts in making the region an important engine for global development, he noted.

Li made the statement in a written statement released upon his arrival at the Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos, where he was received by Lao Minister of Planning and Investment and Chairman of the Lao-China Cooperation Committee Office Phet Phomphiphak, and Chinese Ambassador to Laos Fang Hong.

Li arrived in Vientiane to attend leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation, and pay an official visit to Laos at the invitation of Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN.

Li pointed out that in recent years, under the strategic guidance of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president, and Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president, China and Laos have continued to deepen and consolidate their comprehensive strategic cooperation, and the bilateral relations have entered a new era of building a community with a shared future.

China is ready to work with Laos to further synergize their development strategies, strengthen solidarity and coordination, and push for more substantive progress in building a China-Laos community with a shared future, so as to better benefit the two peoples, he added.

During his stay, Li is also scheduled to attend the 27th China-ASEAN Summit, the 27th ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit to be held from Oct 9 to 12.

China's light industry sector records steady growth in 2025

China's light industry sector recorded steady growth in 2025, as shown by the China National Light Industry Council (CNLIC) data on Tuesday.

Last year, the added value of light industrial firms above the designated size increased by 5.3 percent year-on-year, with Enterprises in the sector earning 23 trillion yuan (about 3.31 trillion U.S. dollars) in revenue, according to CNLIC's data.

Also, the profit rate of business revenue stood at 6.04 percent, which was 0.73 percentage points higher than that of industrial enterprises above the designated size and 1.34 percentage points higher than that of the manufacturing industry.

In terms of the consumer market, the driving force of relevant policy measures was particularly prominent.

Over 129 million home appliances and 12.5 million electric bicycles were purchased through the trade-in program in 2025.

Driven by this trend, the retail sales of 11 product categories in the sector reached 8.6719 trillion yuan (about 1.25 trillion U.S. dollars) in the year, marking a 7.8 percent year-on-year increase and raising the proportion of total retail sales of consumer goods to 17.3 percent. In addition, the export structure of the light industry continued to optimize.

In 2025, the export of light industry products reached 911.46 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 24.2 percent of the country's total export value. Among the 22 major export categories, 11 saw growth. Exports to countries along the Belt and Road route and European Union (EU) countries increased by 1.3 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, demonstrating initial success in diversified layout of export markets.

Industrial enterprises above the designated size refer to industrial enterprises with revenue from principal activities over 20 million yuan.