China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol on Tuesday morning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ahead of the 28th China-ASEAN Summit, in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The upgrade primarily covers nine key fields, including not only existing areas like customs procedures and trade facilitation, standards, and economic and technical cooperation, but also new, high-potential fields like digital economy, green economy, supply chain interconnectivity, competition and consumer protection, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. It reflects the common will and actions of both sides to actively lead the formulation of international rules and promote cooperation in emerging areas, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.
Following the signing of the upgrade protocol, China and ASEAN member states will proceed with their respective domestic approval procedures to ensure the protocol enters into force as soon as possible, the ministry said.
The upgrade marks the latest stage in the evolution of the China-ASEAN free trade area, which was initiated in 2002 and fully implemented as Version 1.0 in 2010. A subsequent Version 2.0 protocol was signed in 2015 and came into full effect in 2019. Negotiations for the Version 3.0 upgrade began in November 2022 and were successfully concluded in May 2025.
Deepening trade ties have been instrumental in the region's growth. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's top trading partner for the past five years. Bilateral trade reached 982.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, representing a seventeen-fold increase since 2002.
China, ASEAN sign Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol
China, ASEAN sign Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.
Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.
Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.
"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.
The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.
Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar
