AI helps empower China-ASEAN Free Trade Area for better development

Photo: The the First China-ASEAN AI Summit is held in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, September 9.

BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely considered by attendees at the First China-ASEAN AI Summit as a driving force to promote better development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

China has maintained its position as the largest trading partner of the ASEAN for ten consecutive years. In the first half of 2019, ASEAN became China's second largest trading partner for the first time, with the bilateral trade volume reaching 291.85 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.2 percent year-on-year.

The robust trade benefits from the widely applied AI technologies. For example, the owner of a fresh melon chain store in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province can directly learn the growth status of the dragon fruit, the brand and dosage of pesticides used in the orchard in Thailand through Hikvision's cameras installed in the orchard.

Xu Yi, a professor of Guangxi Normal University, said that the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area has evolved from the early harvest of agricultural products to goods trade and further to the present era of digital economy. The presentation of the data landscape can maximize the value, brand influence and user experience.

Apart from the agricultural field, AI technologies have also been applied in the disaster relief and the medical care fields.

In July 2018 when Laos was attacked by a serious flood, an auxiliary dam of a hydropower station under construction in Attapeu Province collapsed, leaving numerous people homeless.

Thanks to the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control mapping technology provided by a Chinese company and the AI data analysis, the relief team in Laos discovered many disaster-stricken areas that were not found before, and saved many trapped villagers after re-planning the route.

He Chengxin, former vice president of Guangxi Medical University College of Stomatology (GXMUCS), pointed out that a large number of AI technologies can be applied to medical scenes, allowing doctors to learn more advanced technologies through a wider range of channels, so that patients can get more convenient diagnosis and treatment. The AI technologies will help improve the health of the people in the Area.

Chairat Porntipwarawet, consul-general of Royal Thai Consulate-General in Nanning, said that the platform for ASEAN and China to interconnect and cooperate in the AI field is extremely important, which will provide new development opportunities for enhancing the well-being of both sides.

At the summit, the China-ASEAN financial information service platform was launched, which many experts believe will provide an important channel for the "precise docking" of the finance and real economy within the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Liu Zhengrong, vice president of Xinhua News Agency, said that the platform will provide professional information services such as financial information, data, analysis and consultation for Chinese companies that are going abroad and ASEAN companies that are coming to China through interconnection with Xinhua Silk Road, an economic information platform serving Belt and Road construction. It will not only serve the business development between China and the ASEAN, but also help promote the people-to-people exchanges between the two sides.