KUALA LUMPUR - China and ASEAN signed Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol on Tuesday.
The upgrade protocol heralds a new opportunity to expand and enhance bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said after the signing of the protocol.
He made the remarks at the 28th China-ASEAN Summit being held in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning.
Before the summit, Li and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol.
Confidence and momentum
The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol will inject more confidence and momentum into regional and global economic growth, an official of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Tuesday.
In the face of severe challenges to the rules-based international economic and trade system, the protocol demonstrates a shared, firm commitment by China and ASEAN to multilateralism and free trade, the MOC official said in a statement.
The official added that the China-ASEAN free trade area cooperation and regional economic integration will move beyond traditional trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, expanding to a host of emerging areas, including the digital economy, green economy, standards, and industrial and supply chains.
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.
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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 in 2024, representing a seventeen-fold increase since 2002.
The official said the new protocol explores in-depth cooperation in emerging areas, comprehensively elevates the level of openness, and promotes inclusive development.
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.
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 official said.
