ASEAN Becomes Third Largest Trading Partner of China

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) became the third largest trading partner of China with the bilateral trade of $111.8 billion in the first five months of 2010, the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

 

The figure represented an on-year surge of 58%, the GAC was cited by the state-run Vietnam News Agency as saying Jul 11.

 

The ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) effective from early 2010 and the recovery of the global economy were mainly attributed to the strong increase in the bilateral trade, Liu Jian Wen, vice director of the InstituteofSoutheast AsianStudies under the Guangxi Institute of Society and Sciencesaid.ofStudies under the Guangxi Institute of Society and Sciencesaid.

 

Under the ACFTA, China will cancel taxes on 90% of goods imported from ASEAN countries in 2010, lowering the average tariffs on imports from ASEAN bloc to 0.1% from the current 9.8%.

 

Six ASEAN founding nations of Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will reduce the average tariffs on imports from China to 0.6% in 2010 from the current 12.8%.

 

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will apply tariff reduction from 2015.

 

Trade between Vietnam and China rose to $11.9 billion in the first half of this year, including the former’s trade deficit of $6.3 billion, making up 93.61% of the Southeast Asian nation’s estimated sum, the General Statistics Office said. (VNA, GSO)