ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations commenced when H.E. Qian Qichen, the then Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, attended the opening session of the 24th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July 1991 in Kuala Lumpur as a guest of the Malaysian Government. He expressed China’s keen interest to cooperate with ASEAN for mutual benefit. Subsequently, China was accorded full Dialogue Partner status at the 29th AMM in July 1996 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

China has retained its position as ASEAN’s largest trading partner since 2009, while ASEAN has been China’s largest trading partners since 2019. Two-way merchandise trade between ASEAN and China reached USD 772.4 billion, which accounts for 20.1 per cent of ASEAN’s total trade in 2024. Foreign direct investment (FDI) from China to ASEAN in 2024 amounted to USD 19.3 billion, which position China as the third largest source of FDI among ASEAN Dialogue Partners in 2024.