The cooperation will help ASEAN members become less dependent on the U.S. dollar, which has become highly volatile as a result of the global financial crisis, she said.

Gu Xiaosong, vice president of the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said both ASEAN members and southern China provinces abound with tropical primary products like rubber and tropical fruits, and thus competition in the earlier stage of the FTA will be unavoidable.

"But such competition will eventually lead to optimization of the agricultural and industrial structures in the region, which will help form a more competitive entity in the global market," he said.

China's Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said earlier the establishment of the FTA will promote the regional economic integration, benefiting companies and consumers.

China and the ASEAN launched their cooperation dialogue in 1991 and signed the China-ASEAN Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Cooperation in 2002.