Since China and ASEAN established dialogue relations in 1991, the two sides have seen bilateral trade skyrocket from 8.36 billion U.S. dollars to 685.28 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, an increase of over 80 times, according to Chinese customs data.

The two sides have bucked the global downward trend, and last year they became each other's largest trading partners. Such robust trade expansion has continued in 2021, with bilateral trade volume registering a 38.2 percent year-on-year growth in the first half of this year, according to official Chinese data.