From Political Mutual Trust to A Community of Shared Future, the CAEXPO Staging a Chorus for All

As the lyrics of the song of China-ASEAN Expo(CAEXPO) “Grand Gathering for Common Prosperity” reads,China and ASEAN have seen closer cooperation and stronger ties over the past 15 years from 2004 to 2018.These achievements are made based on the shared aspiration of economic development, and attributable to the high-level political mutual trust of both sides. The CAEXPO, to celebrate its 15thanniversary in 2018, has been playing a critical role in providing a practical and effective platform to enhance political mutual trust and bilateral high-level exchanges.

Leaders’ meeting mechanism laying the cornerstone of political mutual trust

In April 2018, during his meeting with Chen Wu, Governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China,in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh,Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen stated that he would lead a delegation to attend the 15thCAEXPO to be held in China’s Nanning.“Cambodia is the Country of Honor for the CAEXPO this year. As the ASEAN state leader with the most number of attendance to the CAEXPO and an Honorary Citizen of Guangxi, I would like to lead a delegation to the CAEXPO once again very much,” he said.

As an old Chinese saying goes, “mutual trust brings neighboring countries together and goodwill brings distant countries together.” This September will witness Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eleventh attendance to the CAEXPO. His sincerity in supporting the CAEXPO reflects the importance and recognition he gives to this platform, and illustrates the role of the CAEXPO as a bridge to strengthen political mutual trust between China and ASEAN member states, including Cambodia.

Since its inception in 2004, as an important exchange platform for building the China-ASEAN community of shared future, the CAEXPO has been contributing greatly to promoting political mutual trust between China and ASEAN member states. With the themes set based on the development of China-ASEAN strategic partnership, and through a series of high-level friendly exchanges, such as opening ceremony speeches, leaders’ meetings, and Country of Honor events, the CAEXPO has helped deepen political mutual trust and policy communication between the two sides, and offered an institutional guarantee for bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, and people-to-people exchanges.

After the proposal of the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road in 2013, the 11thCAEXPO held in September 2014 took “Jointly Building the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road” as the theme, which won the recognition and appreciation of ASEAN state leaders. At the CAEXPO that year, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, “Singapore fully agrees to move forward with the ‘21stCentury Maritime Silk Road’, and looks forward to working closely with China,and further discuss pertinent details.”

At the 14thCAEXPO in September 2017,Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli met with Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah. Hassanal said that he led a delegation of nearly 100 entrepreneurs for the expo, and welcomed investment from Chinese entrepreneurs in Brunei.The establishment of Brunei-China strategic cooperative partnership has vigorously guided the development of bilateral relations. Brunei stands ready to further boost cooperation with China in such areas as economy, trade, people-topeople and cultural engagement, tourism,energy, ports and education, so as to make the country a gateway that leads China to ASEAN.

As a Chinese proverb says, good neighbors are well-wishers for each other. Statistics reveal that, the previous 14 editions of CAEXPO gathered a total of 67 Chinese and foreign leaders and over 2,900 ministerial guests. Through opening ceremony speeches and leaders’meetings, leaders of China and ASEAN member states articulated the political opinions of their countries on regional cooperation and development, and formed important mechanisms. In this way, they are able to present the policies and industrial development direction of various fields of their governments from Guangxi to the world.

High-level dialogues helping to build cooperation consensus

Standing out from the other trade fairs, the CAEXPO bears a dual task of “fulfilling political and diplomatic missions” and “facilitating economic and trade cooperation”.Therefore, multiple types and levels of dialogues will be arranged during each CAEXPO, including meetings between ASEAN state leaders and Chinese local government leaders and entrepreneurs, and ministerial conferences. This has helped enhance mutual trust in the political and business communities, ensure better exchanges and cooperation among government officials, entrepreneurs and scholars,and effectively advance the major cooperation projects between China and ASEAN member states.

Among others, the CAEXPO Roundtable Meeting on Investment Cooperation,which has been successfully held for six sessions, has helped to establish a mechanism for regular meetings between Chinese and ASEAN investment promotion departments. It has boosted exchanges and mutual trust between the two sides in the field of investment,and provided an effective platform for these departments to push forward the upgraded China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) and strengthen investment cooperation in key areas.

Besides, since it was first held in 2015,the China-ASEAN Mayors Forum has become an important channel for Chinese and ASEAN cities to intensify economic and trade cooperation and further people-to-people connectivity, and yielded fruitful outcomes. Focusing on the development opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese and ASEAN cities have carried out practical exchanges and cooperation in connectivity, maritime cooperation, and industry development through the forum.For example, the China-ASEAN Mayors Forum 2017 witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between some Chinese and ASEAN enterprises, which promoted the implementation of a range of urban construction cooperation projects.

At the same time, through such exchange events like high-level dialogues, Chinese and ASEAN state leaders and entrepreneurs can foster more productive cooperation, guide enterprises in grasping the economic policies and industrial development direction of Chinese and ASEAN governments, helping them deepen understanding of CAFTA, development plans, and investment environment and opportunities of China and ASEAN, and expand cooperation between enterprises.With these efforts, they can set up a work mechanism for interaction between government and business, thus to ensure the sound implementation of national cooperation consensus at the corporate and local levels.

Efficient publicity to spread the voice of CAEXPO

The CAEXPO, which has been successfully held for 14 years running,has created a new model of alldimensional cooperation incorporating political diplomacy, economy, trade, and people-to-people exchanges through continuous exploration. Emerging as a special international event held on a yearly basis which is co-sponsored by the governments of China and 10 ASEAN member states, it has grown into a wellrecognized platform for China-ASEAN friendly cooperation, an asset to promote trade and investment facilitation, and an engine of deepening bilateral cooperation on all fronts. Due to this feature, it has been highly recognized by ASEAN state leaders, and gained great attention and importance from international media, becoming a special platform for spreading the voice of win-win China-ASEAN cooperation to Chinese and international media.

On July 17, 2018, the State Council Information Office of China (SCIO) held a press conference, briefing the media on the situation of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, and the highlights and progress of preparations of the 15thCAEXPO and the China-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit.

At the press conference, Gao Yan, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, said that the 15thCAEXPO will innovate regional cooperation mechanism, and enhance the platform for high-level dialogues to elevate China-ASEAN strategic partnership to a new level; it will extend the value chain of the expo and consolidate the professional cooperation platform for new achievements in China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation;and it will also further leverage the“Nanning Channel” to lift exchanges between China and ASEAN in various areas to a higher level. At the same time,the Ministry of Commerce of China would like to invite all friends from media to the CAEXPO, and hoped that friends from domestic and international media would continue to offer care and support for China-ASEAN regional cooperation and development.

This is the 15thconsecutive year that the SCIO, the chief information office of the Chinese government, has specially held a press conference on the CAEXPO and the China-ASEAN Business &Investment Summit, which demonstrates the importance the Chinese government has attached to the CAEXPO, as well as the fine brand and huge influence the CAEXPO has created. Through the press conference, Chinese and international media can learn the latest policies and development achievements of China-ASEAN cooperation, and send the strongest voice of China-ASEAN cooperation in a comprehensive, multidimensional way and multiple forms,so as to enhance mutual understanding among peoples of all countries.

Gao Yan said that, the CAEXPO is a cooperation platform for promoting the economic and trade development between China and the ASEAN. The success of the past 14 editions has advanced from trade and investment cooperation to boosting cooperation in various areas, including finance, customs,logistics, parks, science and technology,and culture, with sound spillover effects and substantial benefits for enterprises and peoples of both sides. China stands ready to work with ASEAN member states to leverage the CAEXPO platform in order to make new contribution to the development of the Belt and Road, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.