China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have seen their economic and trade ties growing stronger, with the latter remained the largest trade partner of China for consecutive five years as of 2024.
According to the data from the General Administration of Customs, China's trade value with ASEAN countries reached 1.03 trillion yuan in the first two months of 2025, marking a 4 percent year-on-year increase, and accounting for 15.8 percent of China's total import-export volume during the period.
"In the first two months, the growth rate of China's imports and exports with ASEAN countries is 5.2 percent higher than average, and had been increasing for 12 consecutive months. As China welcomes anniversaries of establishing diplomatic ties with many ASEAN countries, and version 3.0 of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) has been developing rapidly, the bilateral trade between China and ASEAN countries is entering a new stage," said Lyu Daliang, head of the Statistics and Analysis Department under China's General Administration of Customs.
A highlight of China-ASEAN trade is the robust performance of the Guangxi Region in south China, the frontier of China's opening up to ASEAN countries. From January to February, Guangxi saw a record-high bilateral trade value, with imports and exports hitting 62.85 billion yuan (about 8.7 billion U.S. dollars), a 14.3 percent year-on-year jump.
The total foreign trade value of Guangxi also recorded the highest, surpassing 125 billion yuan (about 17.3 billion U.S. dollars), up 21.5 percent compared to last year. Specifically, the import and export volume of the manufacturing sector saw a major surge of 73 percent, with home appliances and lithium batteries among the best-performing industries, reaching 81.5 percent and 112.4 percent increases, respectively.
ASEAN remains China's largest trade partner for five consecutive years
ASEAN remains China's largest trade partner for five consecutive years
Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf on Saturday condemned the United States and Israel for attacking Iranian academic institutions and research facilities, saying that more than 30 universities across the country have been directly targeted since the war started in late February.
The official made the condemnation when speaking to reporters at the site of the damaged Shahid Beheshti University in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Simaei-Sarraf said five university professors and more than 60 students had been killed in the strikes so far, describing attacks on Iranian infrastructure as "crimes against humanity."
Those killed include Saeed Shamghadri, an associate professor at the Iran University of Science and Technology. "Since the war started, five university professors, including Professor Shamghadri, and more than 60 university students have been killed. As I mentioned before, more than 30 universities in Iran have been attacked. It is unbelievable that in an era when democratic values, rights, international law, and human rights are being promoted, the most obvious of these rights are being trampled, violated, and attacked," said Simaei-Sarraf.
An U.S.-Israeli air raid hit the laser and plasma research center of the Shahid Beheshti University on Friday, destroying the interior of the entire building and shattering all the windows. The force of the strike also shattered almost all the windows on another building about 100 meters away from the explosion site.
A researcher at the university said it is incomprehensible that such a facility could become a target of attacks.
"You can see that there's neither any military personnel or military activity here. This is a place where only research was being conducted. Why did it become a target of attacks? What was the motive for this crime?" Azimi, the researcher, said in an interview with China Media Group.
Since the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran started, the Iranian government has repeatedly denounced the two countries for targeting the country's academic institutions and research facilities, calling such attacks serious war crimes.
Iranian official condemns U.S.-Israeli strikes on universities
