China-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia cross-border railway train service achieves two-way operation. (Photo/Chongqing)

Chongqing - At the recently concluded 8th Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade (WCIFIT) in Chongqing, Bridging News observed that ASEAN–Western China economic ties are moving beyond traditional trade toward deeper supply chain integration.

A strong presence of ASEAN exhibitors and government representatives took part in exhibitions, roadshows, and business matchmaking events, creating an active environment for negotiations.

At this WCIFIT, the Chongqing municipal government and Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade signed a 2026–2028 action plan to implement their cooperation MOU, focusing on boosting two-way investment, trade facilitation, and closer business collaboration.

According to Chongqing Customs data, in 2025, trade between Chongqing and Vietnam reached 6.2 billion U.S. dollars, with imports from Vietnam at 4.3 billion U.S. dollars, up about 87% year on year. Trade with Thailand totaled 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, including 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in imports, up around 34%. ASEAN countries’ import growth from Chongqing has far outpaced export growth.

This shift reflects a deeper reconfiguration of the industrial division of labor. Chongqing’s exports are still dominated by electromechanical products, making up nearly 90%, including laptops, mobile phones and components, integrated circuits, and automobiles and parts. As ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Thailand upgrade their manufacturing industries, demand for intermediate goods and inputs is rising, strengthening manufacturing links between both sides.

The continuous upgrading of logistics systems further underpins this trend. At an ASEAN investment promotion event held on May 22, Sake Nopthaisong, Consul General of Thailand in Chengdu, noted that under the framework of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), the China–Laos–Thailand railway freight service has become a transformative force in regional logistics. With two fixed departures per week and scheduling precision down to the minute, like “a metro line for international freight.”

Bui Nguyen Long, Consul General of Vietnam in Chongqing, also pointed out that Chongqing, as a key hub at the intersection of the ILSTC, the China–Europe Railway Express, and the Belt and Road Initiative, is becoming an important node in regional supply chains. He added that the ILSTC will play an increasingly critical role in regional economic integration in the future.

The ILSTC is a major international logistics passage designed to improve western China’s access to global markets by easing its landlocked constraints and leveraging ASEAN as the nearest maritime gateway, thereby integrating western China more efficiently into global supply chains.

Traditionally, exports from western China often had to be transported first to eastern coastal ports or shipped via long overland routes through Central Asia to Europe. In contrast, the ILSTC enables goods to be shipped via the Beibu Gulf ports in Guangxi or transported by rail and road through Guangxi and Yunnan to Vietnam, Laos, and other countries, ultimately reaching the major global shipping hub, Singapore, thereby significantly reducing transit time and logistics costs.

Against this shift in trade and logistics systems, ASEAN countries are also expanding their diplomatic presence in western China. In October 2025, Vietnam opened its Consulate General in Chongqing. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar now have consular offices in Chongqing, while Singapore and Thailand are represented in Chengdu. Indonesia has also announced plans to open a consulate in Chengdu.

At the promotion event, Bui also noted that Vietnam’s founding leader, Ho Chi Minh, spent multiple periods in Chongqing during the 1930s and 1940s, where he studied revolutionary experience. This historical connection, nearly 90 years later, continues in new forms and is gradually being transformed into tangible foundations for contemporary economic and industrial cooperation.