(W.E. Talk) China has wisdom and foresight and its cooperation with ASEAN 'nearly Perfect' : former Malaysian ambassador (2)

"Bilateral cooperation nearly perfect"

When asked about ASEAN's willingness to cooperate with China amid current trade protectionism and global supply chain restructuring, Majid gave a high score without hesitation.

"I think it's almost eight or nine, almost ten," Majid said with a smile. In his view, despite increasing economic uncertainties and supply chain disruptions, economic cooperation between China and ASEAN has shown remarkable resilience.

Official data support Majid's argument. In 2025, the total trade value between China and ASEAN reached 7.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.0 percent year-on-year, achieving growth rather than decline amid external headwinds.

"Despite difficulties on both sides, I think we managed to actually reinforce ourselves to have the resilience and that cooperation keep on floating," Majid explained.

"And that's also keep the bonding of economic cooperation. Good, genuine cooperation to fill the gap of each other. This is the strength of the regional cooperation," he added. 

He also specifically mentioned the signing of the Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol, whichin his eyes that the signing of the upgraded protocol is crucial for upgrading the bilateral cooperation platform. 

In his view, this clearly demonstrates that "both sides wish to promote regional integration" and marks a leap from scale expansion to quality improvement in bilateral cooperation. 

Majid's ideas were agreed by Xu,who said that the great achievements in China-ASEAN economic and trade development are inseparable from the deepening of bilateral cooperation mechanisms. The signing of the "3.0 Protocol" is strong evidence of institutional openness in bilateral cooperation. In the future, the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will be further deepened and solidified under institutional safeguards, with the potential to develop into a shared community with a common future. 

Xu added that with the further implementation of bilateral free trade agreements and the expansion of zero-tariff trade, both sides can increase cooperation in areas such as agricultural trade, services trade, digital economy, and green economy, cultivating new growth points for bilateral economic and trade cooperation.