Pillar for cooperation in World Economy News 11/02/2026 Against the backdrop of rising global protectionism and worsening economic fragmentation, the world is grappling with a critical challenge: trade restriction measures have surged in recent years. This trend of “decoupling and breaking chains” fragments global industry and supply chains, undermining the efficiency of global resource allocation. Amid this turmoil, China is forging a new cooperation model — one rooted in institutional opening-up and deep integration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This model, distinct from traditional geopolitical rivalry, offers a more resilient and inclusive alternative that strengthens regional interdependence and aligns with high-standard international rules, providing a practical solution to global fragmentation. Institutional opening-up stands as the core pillar of China’s new cooperation model, driving high-standard integration of economic and trade systems. Since the establishment of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2013, China has used pilot zones as testing grounds to align with international high-standard rules, accumulating experience in intellectual property protection, competition policy and green transformation. A landmark achievement is the upgrading of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area to its 3.0 version in October 2025, which expands cooperation beyond traditional trade to emerging fields such as the digital economy, green economy and supply chain connectivity — directly reflecting alignment with high-standard frameworks such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. China’s 2021 applications to join the CPTPP and DEPA further demonstrate its commitment to institutional opening-up: The CPTPP’s focus on “behind-the-border” measures (such as labor and environmental standards) and DEPA’s emphasis on digital trade rules have guided China’s reform efforts, ensuring its opening-up is not just about market access but rule convergence. By the end of 2025, China had signed 23 free trade agreements with 30 countries and regions, covering 43 percent of its total foreign trade, forming a rule-aligned regional economic network that counters fragmentation. ASEAN serves as the critical test case and fulcrum of this new model, with deep integration fostering interdependence and resilience. ASEAN has been China’s largest trading partner for six consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching 6.82 trillion yuan ($977.4 billion) in the first 11 months of 2025, an 8.5 percent year-on-year increase. Agricultural trade alone was $51.3 billion in the first 10 months of 2025, growing by 8.9 percent. China’s imports of dried and fresh fruits and vegetables from ASEAN exceed $10 billion, accounting for more than two-thirds of its global imports. Beyond the trade volume, supply chain integration has deepened: Intermediate product trade between China and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership region (centered on ASEAN) accounts for over 60 percent of total trade, reaching $4.4 trillion in 2022. China’s investment in ASEAN — $15.5 billion in 2023, accounting for 12 percent of its total outbound investment that year — has spawned over 6,500 Chinese enterprises in the region, with key projects such as the China-Malaysia “Two Countries, Twin Parks” and China-Indonesia Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor strengthening industry chain links. Infrastruct