On 11 to 14 January, Secretary General Shi Zhongjun of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) invited Ambassadors from the ASEAN Member States (AMS) on a trip to Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province, under the ACC’s flagship project of  “FAM Trips in China by AMS Ambassadors”. Ambassador U Tin Maung Swe of Myanmar, Ambassador Jaime A.FlorCruz of the Philippines, Ambassador Peter Tan of Singapore and their spouses, as well as Ambassador Soeung Rathchavy of Cambodia attended the trip. The visiting dignitaries were deeply impressed by Harbin’s unique historical and natural features, as well as the rapid growth of Heilongjiang’s new quality productive forces and ice and snow economy.

During their stay in Harbin, the delegation made field visits to the HLJ Nine & Eighteen Natures Exhibition Hall, Harbin Boshiac Automation Company, the AVRtech Company VR Exhibition Hall, Space Museum of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin Ice and Snow World and Central Street.  They gained comprehensive insights on the special agricultural edge of Heilongjiang Province, its advancement of “intelligent manufacturing”, China’s efforts in exploring the space, as well as the ice and snow economy and the related cultural tourism resources.

The Ambassadors expressed recognition on the solid industrial foundation and strong technological strength of Heilongjiang. They look forward to further exploring potential cooperations with AMS on new quality productive forces. Although Harbin is geographically distant from ASEAN countries, its rich forestry and winter tourism resources makes it complementary and attractive to tropical AMS. Moreover, HIT has outstanding capabilities and rich experience in aerospace talent cultivation and the integration among industrial, academic and R&D sectors. They will encourage more ASEAN students to pursue further studies at HIT in the future, with the effort to strengthen people-to-people ties and practical cooperation under the framework of the 2025 ASEAN-China Year of People-to-people Exchanges.

On the evening of 13 January, Vice Governor Yu Jian of Heilongjiang Province met with the delegation. Both sides exchanged views on the practical cooperations between AMS and Heilongjiang in various fields. The ASEAN guests extended their best wishes for the complete success to the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025.