ASEAN-China Week 2025 kicks off in Fuzhou, SE China's Fujian

Photo shows a scene from the opening ceremony of ASEAN-China Week 2025 in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 17, 2025. (People's Daily Online/Li Weiyi)

ASEAN-China Week 2025 kicked off on Nov. 17 in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, under the theme "Our Shared Future: Bridging ASEAN 2045 & Chinese Modernization," marking the event's return to the coastal city after a three-year interval.

"Three years ago, the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) launched ASEAN-China Week here to promote understanding of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership among our peoples," said Secretary-General of the ACC Shi Zhongjun at the event's opening ceremony.

"Today, we're pleased to see that it has become a vital platform where people from all walks of life on both sides can renew friendship and plan for cooperation," said Shi.

As a flagship initiative of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, ASEAN-China Week serves as a key platform for advancing all-dimensional cooperation and deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. It helps foster practical cooperation in areas including scientific and technological innovation, the digital economy, green development and people-to-people exchanges, further elevating bilateral relations to new heights.

Photo shows a scene from ASEAN-China Week 2025 in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 17, 2025. (People's Daily Online/Li Weiyi)

The ASEAN Community Vision 2045, adopted at the 46th ASEAN Summit this May, aligns closely with the goals of Chinese modernization, Shi noted. Both frameworks prioritize people-centered development, emphasize sustainable growth and the green transition, and champion innovation-driven progress and the digital economy, Shi added. Additionally, they advocate regional cooperation and connectivity while promoting inclusiveness and narrowing development gaps.

Against this backdrop, this year's theme seeks to integrate the spirit of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 with Chinese modernization, further consolidating the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership and building an even closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Trade between China and ASEAN has surged from less than $8 billion in 1991 to $982.3 billion in 2024, with the two sides now serving as each other's largest trading partner.

The Report on ASEAN-China Trade and Investment Cooperation is released at ASEAN-China Week 2025 in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, Nov. 17, 2025. (People's Daily Online/Li Weiyi)

Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah, president of Malaysia's Senate, said the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 is highly compatible with Chinese modernization in areas such as innovation, connectivity and people-centered development. The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 demonstrates both sides' commitment to equitable benefit-sharing, inclusive growth and bridging development gaps, he noted.

He called for enhanced strategic coordination and expanded cooperation in the digital economy, green technology, artificial intelligence and the blue economy to build a peaceful, stable, prosperous, beautiful and friendly home that benefits people across the region.

At the opening ceremony, representatives from ASEAN countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the Boao Forum for Asia, as well as China's high-level delegates, delivered keynote speeches.

The day also saw the release of the Report on ASEAN-China Trade and Investment Cooperation and the launch of an initiative to jointly build the ASEAN-China Digital Cultural Intellectual Property Repository, along with the official launch of the cross-border business platform for the China-ASEAN Marine Product Exchange.