ASEAN-China Centre steps up training for smaller firms as trade gap persists

The ASEAN-China Centre is broadening its training for small and medium-sized enterprises seeking a foothold in China, even as an official acknowledged that trade between the two sides remains deeply lopsided.

Pichayapat Benjasiriroj, deputy director of the centre's Trade and Investment Division, said many smaller companies simply lack the information and resources needed to work through customs rules and take advantage of free trade agreements.

"We also recognise that trade between ASEAN and China is quite uneven. That is precisely why we developed this programme to support ASEAN SMEs," he told reporters at an ACC Open Day in Beijing on September 24.

Programme reaches Thailand and Laos

The centre launched the training last year with a two-day session in Beijing that covered customs procedures, free trade agreements, cross-border e-commerce and marketing.

This year, it ran a session in Hefei, in China's Anhui province, and for the first time brought the programme to Thailand and Laos, making it easier for local businesses to take part.

Pichayapat said the centre plans to keep running the training next year and is looking for partners that could help it reach SMEs in other ASEAN countries.

He did not announce any session in Cambodia, nor did he provide figures on how many businesses had participated.

Support for exporters

Market access is a pressing issue for Cambodian exporters hoping to sell more goods to China.

Pichayapat's remarks suggest practical assistance may be on the way, although the centre has not yet unveiled a Cambodia-specific programme.

In welcome remarks for the visiting ASEAN journalists, ACC secretary-general Zhang Lizhong pointed to workshops on trade and investment facilitation for SMEs as part of the centre's work to deepen economic ties.

He said the ACC also arranges business visits and trade promotion activities, as well as an ASEAN-China forum centred on emerging industries and innovation.

Pichayapat noted that the forum brought Chinese companies to Malaysia in 2024 to discuss advanced industries, and to Thailand last year for a conference on renewable energy and carbon reduction technologies.

This year, the centre took roughly 50 Chinese entrepreneurs to Vietnam to meet local businesses and tour Hoa Lac High-Tech Park.

The centre also brings ASEAN commercial officials and business associations to Chinese provinces for exhibitions and investment promotion events, he said.

Napasorn Bhuvaborirak, who directs the centre's Information and Public Relations Division, outlined its work across trade, investment, education, culture, tourism and media.

Milestones and trade figures

The ACC was created in 2011 by China and the 10 ASEAN member states to foster cooperation between the two sides.

Zhang said 2026 marks 35 years of ASEAN-China dialogue relations, five years of their comprehensive strategic partnership and the centre's 15th anniversary.

Speaking at the Open Day, he said the centre has carried out more than 200 flagship projects and organised or joined over 4,000 activities since it was established.

He put ASEAN-China trade in the first half of 2026 at $470 billion, a rise of 10.5 per cent from a year earlier.

For smaller ASEAN exporters, the training push nevertheless underscores a persistent challenge: turning the region's swelling trade with China into opportunities they can actually capture.