China continued to maintain its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner in 2025. In October of that year, China and ASEAN signed the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Malaysia. As China-ASEAN trade continues to deepen and solidify, what driving forces lie behind this?

Based on the observation, Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, said that the long-standing positive partnership between the two sides essentially reflects a deep structural economic interdependence beyond geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, the durability of bilateral cooperation requires both sides to align with each other.