China has signed an expanded free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Premier Li Qiang has promoted economic ties with Beijing as an alternative to U.S. protectionist policies.

China and the ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asian nations signed an upgrade to their free trade agreement on Tuesday, with leaders hailing the deal which spans the digital and green economy, and other new industries.

Beijing is hoping to use an expanded free trade deal to portray itself as the bloc’s alternative to the United States.

Diverging pressures from the United States and China at the ASEAN summit have led some member states to fear that the era of hedging is over.

The announcement came after China’s Premier Li Qiang called on his Asian counterparts to “uphold free trade and the multilateral trading system.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with counterparts from China and India, beginning a series of face-to-face meetings at an ASEAN defence summit in Malaysia, as Washington seeks to boost regional security ties.

The free trade area covers a combined market of more than 2 billion people, lowers tariffs on goods, and boosts flows of services and investment.View on euronews

The agreement would allow their forces to hold joint battle-readiness drills and expand a web of security alliances to deter aggression, Philippine officials said.

Beyond trade, cooperation between ASEAN and China can also be stepped up in areas such as connectivity and the green economy, says Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Welcome to Foreign Policy ’s Southeast Asia Brief.