Published : 2025-01-01

On January 1, 2010, the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) came into effect.

CAFTA is composed of China and 10 ASEAN countries, namely Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.

With a total population of nearly 2 billion (2010), it is the largest single market in the world.

After the establishment of CAFTA, tariffs on more than 7,000 types of products in the trade catalogues of both parties, which account for approximately 90%, were be eliminated.

The average tariff that China imposes on ASEAN products dropped from 9.8% to 0.1%.

The achievements of CAFTA are very impressive. Within half a year after its launch, the bilateral trade have largely accelerated.

For instance, the bilateral trade between ASEAN and China's Guangxi Province reached USD 2.63 billion, an increase of 41.6%.