Cross-border barter trade was the most common method of foreign trade when China and Southeast Asian countries began economic exchanges more than ten years ago, however, against the backdrop of the free trade area construction process, people on both sides are witnessing a boom in mutual investment and large-scale cargo and service trade.

Chinese figures showed that the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trade volume hit US$54.77 billion in 2002, up 31.7 percent year-on-year. Last year, 8.8 percent of China's total foreign trade was with ASEAN, while in 1991, the ratio was only 5.8 percent.

ASEAN is now China's fifth largest trading partner and China is ASEAN's sixth. Apart from trade, mutual investment and economic and technological cooperation in agriculture, tourism and the processing industry have also benefited.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, ASEAN countries had 19,281 investment projects in China by September last year, involving US$28.68 billion, and China had invested US$690 million in 769 projects in ASEAN countries.

These days, there are fewer people engaging in border area barter trade and more businessmen coming to China for much higher-level economic cooperation, marking a milestone for China-ASEAN economic exchanges and the beginning of a competitive win-win era, said Gu Xiaosong, an expert with the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

At a high-level forum on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) hosted in Guilin, Vice-Chairman Gao Hucheng of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said the FTA build-up will facilitate the liberalization of cargo and service trade and also facilitate the liberalization of reciprocal investment, with a focus on cooperation in farming, information technology, human resources and exploration of the Mekong River valley.

The building of the FTA has brought comprehensive benefits to many parties, said Huang Zheng, vice-president of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences.

A food company in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in east China, with investment from the Philippines, is consuming 6,000 tons of local soybeans and 1,600 tons of rice a year, and a Guangxi company working together with a Thai company are building a model eco-village. Liu Yonghao, one of China's wealthiest businessmen, has invested in several farm projects in Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.

China has succeeded in spreading its rice paddy technology to Southeast Asian countries. China and ASEAN countries also enjoy huge potential for tourism cooperation. In 2002, about 10 million Chinese spent their holidays in the other parts of Asia.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2003)