According to the statistics provided by the Customs, China-ASEAN bilateral trade volumes hit 59.76 billion US dollars in the first half of this year, increasing by 25% compared to the same period of last year. The trade volume between China and ASEAN have increased from 6.691 billion US dollars in 1990 to 105.88 billion US dollars in 2004, with an annual increase rate of 20%. At present, ASEAN has become the fourth biggest trading partner of China.

Starting from July 20, China has implemented the conventional tariffs of the China-ASEAN free-trade areas on goods from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Singapore and Thailand. The Customs has worked out special measures to ensure that the "conventional-tariff" products pass the customhouse rapidly.

By People's Daily Online