Intelligent Land-Sea Connectivity: China-ASEAN AI Cooperation Case Collection ( 2026 ) Released in Nanning
On September 17, 2026, the China-ASEAN Business Leaders Forum——the plenary session of the 23rd China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit was held in Nanning. During the forum, Intelligent Land-Sea Connectivity: China-ASEAN AI Cooperation Case Collection (2026) was officially released.
The case collection focuses on the practices of the international business community. It selects and brings together 31 representative cases from eight key fields, namely new infrastructure, smart manufacturing, smart logistics, smart agriculture, smart healthcare, smart cities, smart education, and smart finance. Covering all 11 ASEAN countries, it seeks to present a comprehensive account of the dynamic practices and tangible results of China-ASEAN AI cooperation.
The case collection notes that, connected by mountains and rivers and endowed with complementary industries, China and ASEAN have a solid foundation for deeper AI cooperation. The year 2026 marks the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the first year of the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2026-2030). China-ASEAN AI cooperation is moving from scattered projects to a new stage defined by institutionalized, regular, and systematic development.
Case analysis shows that the international cooperation between China and ASEAN in AI has three main features:
First, the cooperation responds to actual needs and focuses on specific scenarios. China-ASEAN AI cooperation closely aligns with ASEAN countries’ actual needs and responds precisely to both sides’ development priorities and public aspirations. AI application scenarios are deeply integrated with ASEAN’s cooperation needs, producing regional cooperation outcomes that are tangible, visible, and accessible.
Second, the cooperation emphasizes capacity building through diverse models. China and ASEAN have complementary factor endowments in AI. Guided by inclusive and universally beneficial cooperation, respecting ASEAN countries’ data sovereignty, and following different stages of development, the two sides have pursued diverse cooperation models, including intelligent computing cloud platforms, computing power alliances, joint laboratories, innovation centers and joint talent cultivation, to help ASEAN build local AI research and industrial capabilities and narrow the regional digital gap.
Third, policy and mechanism coordination ensures a clear cooperation path. The development path of “R&D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou + integration in Guangxi + application in ASEAN” has been continuously proven viable and effective in practice. AI cooperation between the two sides is steadily moving toward a stage of quality improvement and upgrading.
Notably, the release adopted an innovative digital communication approach by introducing NFC-enabled smart bookmarks. Attendees could simply tap their phones against the bookmarks to instantly access and download the full bilingual (Chinese-English) text. This enabled a real-time sharing experience—“released on stage, available in hand”—bringing the region’s cooperation results from the big screen directly into participants’ hands.
Intelligent Land-Sea Connectivity: China-ASEAN AI Cooperation Case Collection 2026 was jointly compiled by the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit Secretariat, the China-ASEAN Business Council Joint Secretariat, and the Academy of CCPIT. It aims to serve as a valuable practical reference, build consensus within the business community for closer cooperation, and contribute to building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
