POSITIVE SUM: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (seventh right), together with state leaders of ASEAN nations, inaugurates the Ninth China-ASEAN Expo on September 21, in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (LAN HONGGUANG)

Though territorial disputes exist between China and some ASEAN nations in the South China Sea, the multiple economic cooperation mechanisms between China and ASEAN have deepened their overall relationship.

The Ninth China-ASEAN Expo concluded in late September in Nanning, capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. As one of the major integration platforms for products, technologies and investments of China and ASEAN, the expo reaped abundant fruits in trade and economic cooperation. And with the attendance of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and state leaders of ASEAN nations, it also served as a unique platform for political leaders to communicate with one another and strengthen China-ASEAN ties while healing differences over the maritime divergence.

In his address at the opening ceremony of the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, which was held during the expo, Xi said that China and ASEAN nations have a strategic incentive for deepening economic ties and that all regional countries should resolve disputes through negotiations while advancing the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA). Xi stressed that China and ASEAN should work more vigorously to advance connectivity, saying that it is the important foundation for promoting intra-regional economic integration, enhancing regional competitiveness and deepening cultural exchanges.

Roaring economic relations

Since the beginning of the 21st century, economic relations between China and ASEAN have flourished. In 2002, China and ASEAN signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. Under this backdrop, the First China-ASEAN Expo was held in 2004 in Nanning, aiming to boost bilateral trade and achieve the goal of establishing the CAFTA. The CAFTA was fully established in 2010. Observers say the China-ASEAN Expo helped push forward negotiations on the CAFTA.

When the First China-ASEAN Expo was held in 2004, the trade volume between China and ASEAN nations was about $100 billion. The figure reached $362.8 billion in 2011. Including enterprises, goods, projects and capital of the 11 countries in the region, the China-ASEAN Expo offered myriad opportunities.

Statistics from the expo's official website show the previous eight sessions of the expo registered a trade volume of $11.69 billion, with international cooperation projects signed worth $49.17 billion.

The trade volume at the expo this year reached $1.88 billion, an increase of 3.9 percent over the last session. In addition, 118 international economic cooperation project agreements created a total investment of $8.2 billion.

In the last decade, economic cooperation between China and ASEAN has grown steadily. Mutual trade and investment have made remarkable strides. Especially after the establishment of the CAFTA on January 1, 2010, trade between China and ASEAN skyrocketed.

China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for three years in a row since 2009. In 2011, ASEAN surpassed Japan to become China's third largest trading partner. In the meantime, ASEAN is the fourth largest export market and the third largest source of imports for China.

Moreover, mutual investment between China and ASEAN is expanding across the board. Annual investment from ASEAN to China nearly doubled from $3.26 billion in 2002 to $7 billion in 2011. During the same period, Chinese investment in ASEAN increased from $80 million to $2.91 billion. By July this year, two-way investment had totaled nearly $100 billion.