CBN丨China， ASEAN usher in new era with completed negotiations on CAFTA 3.0

摘要：The upgraded FTA will cover nine areas, including digital economy, green economy and interconnectivity of supply chains, according

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China and ASEAN conclude negotiations for CAFTA 3.0 in “a landmark achievement”;21st cultural fair is set to open in Shenzhen tomorrow, serving as super platform for Chinese cultural exports.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

China and the ten ASEAN countries have fully completed negotiations on the Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), the Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday.

The upgraded FTA will cover nine areas, including digital economy, green economy and interconnectivity of supply chains, according to the commerce ministry.

The CAFTA 3.0 will send a strong message of upholding free trade and open cooperation. China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners and key investment partners, both being steadfast supporters of economic globalization and multilateralism.

As a priority in bilateral economic and trade cooperation, the development of the CAFTA 3.0 represents a landmark achievement in jointly upholding and advancing free trade, the Ministry of Commerce said.

ASEAN is China's largest trading partner. In 2024, bilateral trade increased by nine percent to 6.99 trillion yuan ($968 billion), accounting for 15.9 percent of China's foreign trade, official statistics showed.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the completion of the construction of the CAFTA. Negotiations on the CAFTA 3.0 started in November 2022. After nine rounds of formal negotiations in nearly two years, the talks were substantively concluded in October 2024.

In the next step, the two sides will actively advance their respective domestic signing and ratification procedures to formally sign the upgraded protocol of the CAFTA 3.0.

GBA express

The 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF), which will take place from May 22 to 26, is set to be a grand gathering for the world's cultural sector. The event adopts a more open approach to embrace the global community this year, featuring 305 overseas exhibitors from 65 countries and regions. A total of 35,000 professional visitors from 110 countries and regions will attend both online and offline, with international exhibitors accounting for 20 percent of the total. This year's edition introduces new zones dedicated to cultural export and youth creative project incubation, among others, while also strengthening cooperation with more than 20 leading international exhibition organizations to help Chinese cultural products expand into global markets.The number of inbound and outbound travelers passing through Shenzhen ports has surpassed 100 million so far this year, according to local immigration authorities. This milestone was reached 24 days earlier than in 2024, with the daily average number of border crossings nearing 730,000. The number of foreign arrivals via Shenzhen has also seen a sharp increase, fueled by upgraded visa-free policies. As of Monday, the number of foreign travelers processed at Shenzhen ports had surged 41 percent year on year to 2.64 million, of which 560,000 entered visa-free, a 105 percent jump from last year.Hong Kong will table a bill by the end of the year to offer a 50 percent tax concession for certain commodity trading activities, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Wednesday. Chan’s remarks came a day after the London Metal Exchange (LME) added three more Hong Kong warehouses to its global network, following an initial approval of four in April.Chinese dairy giant Yili yesterday held a global product launch event in Hong Kong, introducing its infant formula brand Pro-Kido to the local market, Xinhua reported. Yili also announced a strategic partnership with Hong Kong-based health retail chain Mannings.

Industry and company news

The US’ export control on artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China were "a failure," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday, media reported. Huang added that "the fundamental assumptions that led to the AI diffusion rule in the beginning, in the first place, has been proven to be fundamentally flawed.”Despite the US export controls on AI chips, the US chipmaker is seeking to build an R&D center in Shanghai that would help it to stay competitive in China.Qualcomm inked a new multi-year agreement with Xiaomi while celebrating the 15th anniversary of their alliance, the US chip giant said on its website today. The Chinese phone maker will also be one of the first to adopt the next-gen Snapdragon 8 series set to be launched later this year.Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group announced today it has changed its name to Hujing, which means orca in Chinese. It also renamed its film production arm from Alibaba Pictures to Damai Entertainment.Unitree Robotics will be the partner of a mecha fighting arena match at a world robot competition series that will kick off in China's Hangzhou on May 25, CCTV reported today. The competition includes demonstration and competitive matches, with humanoid robots demonstrating combat and robots controlled by humans in real-time fighting in the arena.Huawei will launch its first luxury car model under the Maextro brand in collaboration with JAC Group at 7.30 p.m. on May 30, the Chinese tech giant said today. The Maextro S800 features the firm's second-generation Tuling platform, with pre-sale price starting from 1 million yuan.China’s top 10 car manufacturers by sales sold a total of 2.5 million vehicles in the first four months of the year, accounting for 69 percent of the total, the CAAM said yesterday. BYD led the ranking, followed by Geely and FAW Group.Chinese technology zones that host 70 percent of the nation's major innovation centers posted 7.1 percent year-on-year growth in output in the first quarter, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The zones, which also house 80 percent of China's key research labs, are involved in realms such as artificial intelligence prototypes and brain-computer interface chips.

Asia-Pacific highlights

Over the past two years, the China-Singapore exchange-traded fund (ETF) has seen its combined assets under management grow by three times year-on-year to nearly 630 million Singapore dollars ($487 million), Loh Boon Chye, CEO of Singapore Exchange said on the sidelines of the 2025 Global Investor Conference in Shenzhen on Monday. The cross-border ETF program, allowing investor access to ETFs cross-listed between the Shenzhen, Shanghai and Singapore bourses, has launched nine ETF products as of April since it was set up in 2021.A USD250 million cement production plant, jointly invested by Chinese and Cambodian investors, was put into operation in western Cambodia on Tuesday. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the plant, built on the parcel of 407 hectares in the Aural district, is capable of producing 2.2 million tons of cement a year.