A report recapping the achievements of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was released recently as the two sides celebrate the 10th anniversary of CAFTA's full establishment. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement was signed among its 15 participating countries, launching the world's biggest free trade bloc.

Participating countries include the 10 member states of ASEAN(Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The World Bank Group said in a report published in June that growth in East Asia and the Pacific is projected to fall to 0.5 percent in 2020 and it is the only region that could see growth this year. The International Monetary Fund forecast that China would be the only major economy to post positive growth in 2020.

China's growth, given its role in the region, "is having positive spillovers, for the region and for commodity prices and for, broadly, participants in the global value chains that China is a big part of", said Jonathan D. Ostry, acting director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, during an online news conference in October following the release of the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook.

Despite disruptions caused by COVID-19, China's trade with ASEAN, Japan and the ROK all held basically steady in the first three quarters. In the January-September period, China-ASEAN trade reached $481.81 billion, up 5 percent year-on-year, making ASEAN China's largest trading partner. China's industrywide foreign direct investment in ASEAN topped $10.72 billion, jumping 76.6 percent year-on-year.

Countries in the region are working on the establishment of a network of "fast tracks" and "green lanes" in a phased manner to facilitate the flow of people and goods.

The importance of the digital economy has been further uncovered in the context of COVID-19. The ASEAN has adopted the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, and China is formulating a national plan on IT applications for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

This year has been designated as the China-ASEAN Year of Digital Economy Cooperation. On this basis, the two sides are working to synergize digital development strategies and boost infrastructure development and transformation in the digital field. Cooperation on innovation in areas such as e-commerce, smart cities, big data and 5G is expected to intensify.