Research on the China-ASEAN Digital Trade Development Under the Framework of the Digital Belt and Road Initiative

Promoting China-ASEAN digital trade cooperation is an important breakthrough to implement the Digital Belt and Road construction agenda and establish digital trade rules by the Chinese model. The Digital Belt and Road framework can bring new opportunities for China-ASEAN digital trade cooperation from the three dimensions: improving the cooperation mechanism, promoting digital infrastructure construction and deepening digital economy cooperation, and meanwhile the competitiveness of ASEAN's digital economy and trade can also been improved. By analyzing the progress of China-ASEAN cross-border e-commerce, digital service trade and digital trade rule cooperation, it can be found that China-ASEAN digital trade has been deepened and solidified, but cross-border e-commerce and digital service trade cooperation are facing constraints and have not fully released their potential. There are challenges such as the lack of solid digital trade foundation, the imperfect digital trade governance systems in ASEAN and its member states, the imperfect domestic digital trade governance system in China, and China's weak voice of digital trade rules in the ASEAN region. Accordingly, it is recommended to vigorously develop cross-border e-commerce, deepen cooperation in digital service trade, consolidate the foundation of China-ASEAN digital trade, promote the domestic digital trade governance system, and cooperate with ASEAN to enhance the voice of digital trade rules, so as to promote the China-ASEAN digital trade development and cooperation.