Philippine trade 'not affected by dispute'

The South China Sea issue will not affect economic cooperation and trade between China and the Philippines, Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Yan told a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"China is willing to continue developing economic relationships with the Philippines," said Gao, who clarified that China was not boycotting Philippine products.

It was announced at the news conference that the 13th China-ASEAN expo and the 13th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit will be held in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, from Sept 11 to 14.

Cross-border e-commerce will be one of the main topics in the summit.

Yin Zonghua, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said China will further strengthen e-commerce cooperation with countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Several e-commerce platforms will be launched during the summit, he said.

To promote cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, the council will build more platforms, encourage more Chinese companies to invest in the ASEAN nations, as well as strengthen legal consulting cooperation, Yin said.

China is the biggest trading partner of ASEAN, and ASEAN is the third-largest trading partner, the fourth-biggest export market and the second-largest import source for China.

In 2015, the bilateral trading volume amounted to $472.16 billion.

This year, China and ASEAN will host an exhibition on international industrial cooperation. Major Chinese companies and representatives of Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces will attend the events.

Zhang Xiaoqin, vice-chairman of Guangxi, said this year's expo plans to achieve new cooperation initiatives, including promoting international industrial cooperation and accelerating connectivity between China and surrounding countries.