China and ASEAN cooperate in science and technology

China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched a plan aimed at bolstering partnerships in the fields of science and technology. More than 300 entrepreneurs and scholars from China and ASEAN countries attended a launch ceremony in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on the sidelines of the ninth China-ASEAN Expo. "China should take the current China-ASEAN science and technology cooperation year as an opportunity to strengthen economic and technological cooperation within the FTA framework, deepen industrial cooperation and improve the intraregional allocation of resources," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony. Under the plan, key areas of cooperation include major science programs' planning and management, national science development strategy, agriculture, disaster prevention, information technology and space technology. The two sides also began their first cooperative program under the partner plan, a satellite data platform based on China's satellite data resources which will be shared with the ASEAN countries. The platform is expected to contribute to agricultural yield estimation, environmental supervision and disaster prevention and control.