The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN and China on Tuesday signed an upgrade to their free trade agreement, which is expected to include sections on digital, green economy and other new industries.
The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations is China's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade totaling $771 billion last year, according to ASEAN statistics.
China is seeking to intensify its engagement with ASEAN, a region with a collective gross domestic product of $3.8 trillion, to counter hefty import tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on countries around the world.
Beijing has been seeking to position itself as a more open economy, despite criticism from other major powers of its expanding export restrictions on rare earths and other critical minerals.
The so-called 3.0 version of the free trade agreement with ASEAN was signed into effect at a summit of the bloc's leaders in Malaysia, which Trump attended on Sunday at the start of his trip through Asia.
Negotiations on the upgraded ASEAN-China deal began in November 2022 and concluded in May this year, just after Trump's tariff offensive kicked into gear.
China has previously said the agreement would pave the way for improved market access in sectors such as agriculture, the digital economy and pharmaceuticals between China and ASEAN.
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Beijing is using Shanghai’s artificial intelligence (AI) forum to promote its governance agenda and showcase domestic alternatives to U.S. technology.
The Anaklia deep-sea port project has returned to Georgia's strategic agenda under a fundamentally different model. The move reflects the growing importance of Georgia's role in the Middle Corridor following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A senior U.S. commerce official told lawmakers on Tuesday that only a small number of Nvidia's H200 artificial intelligence chips have been shipped to China so far, as scrutiny grows over Washington's export controls on advanced technology.
More than 260,000 people were evacuated to safety in China's northeastern Liaoning province after Typhoon Bavi brought severe flooding and widespread disruptions.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a U.S. naval blockade on all Iranian ports and warned that power plants and bridges could be targeted next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations.
The United States carried out a third consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran, targeting military capabilities around the Strait of Hormuz as Donald Trump announced the reinstatement of a blockade on Iranian shipping and proposed a 20% fee on cargo passing through the strategic waterway.
The death toll from the fire at a live music pub in Bangkok has climbed to 32 after two more victims died from their injuries, according to Thailand's Police Hospital.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged fresh attacks on Tuesday, with Kyiv targeting shipping and energy infrastructure inside Russia while Moscow launched another large-scale missile and drone assault on Ukrainian cities.
The U.S. military announced that it has completed a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets under U.S. President Donald Trump's orders. The operation targeted command centres, air defence systems, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance sites across multiple locations.
Two British hackers who carried out a cyberattack on Transport for London (TfL) that cost the transport authority £29 million to remediate have been jailed for a total of 11 years.
At least 11 people have been killed and 19 injured in a fire at an orphanage on the outskirts of the Algerian capital, state media reported. The blaze broke out early on Thursday at the institution in the eastern suburbs of Algiers.
A woman whose husband was sucked out of the window of a plane during a Ryanair flight has recounted pulling her husband to safety. Serbian couple Svetlana Maksimovic and Ljubisa Karovic had just settled into a flight with the airline last week, when a loud bang pierced the hum of engines.
Russia launched a fresh wave of missile strikes on Ukraine early on Thursday, saying it had hit military and industrial facilities in Kyiv, as well as key port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region.
Uganda is expected to discharge its final Ebola patient on Thursday, beginning the 42-day countdown required before the country can be declared free of the virus if no new cases emerge, according to a government spokesperson.
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