The China-Laos Railway, a flagship Belt and Road project, has demonstrated booming China-ASEAN cooperation through its substantial operational achievements: over 60,000 cargo services and three consecutive years of double-digit cargo throughput growth, a reporter asked Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun about China-ASEAN cooperation during the press conference on September 24th.

In recent years, practical cooperation in various sectors between China and ASEAN countries has made steady progress and yielded fruitful results. In 2024, the trade volume between the two sides totaled around US$ 1 trillion. China and ASEAN have been each other’s largest trading partner for five consecutive years, and the two-way investment has exceeded US$ 450 billion in total by July, 2025, said Guo Jiakun.

From 2024 to 2025, the two sides jointly held a series of activities for “China-ASEAN Year of People-to-People Exchange,” which effectively strengthened people-to-people exchanges and forged closer bonds. The two sides have also jointly created cooperation highlights in sectors such as digital economy, artificial intelligence and new energy, which improved the quality of and encouraged innovation in regional development. Recently, the 22nd China-ASEAN Expo was successfully convened. Around 70 new products were launched at the Expo. It fully speaks to the enormous potential of China and ASEAN countries in seizing new development opportunities and opening up new prospects for cooperation, said Guo Jiakun.

Guo reiterated that the increasingly complex international landscape calls for efforts of focusing on cooperation and acting on the principle of win-win results. We stand ready to enhance connectivity with all parties, including ASEAN countries, to jointly promote regional integration and economic globalization, so as to bring the benefit of openness and cooperation to more people and countries.

(Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China)