What does it mean to officially sign RCEP?

　　China News Service, Beijing, November 15th, title:

　　China News Agency reporter Li Xiaoyu

　　The "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) was signed by video on the 15th.

A giant free trade agreement covering about 30% of the world's population, economic volume and total trade will officially set sail from then on.

In an interview with a reporter from China News Agency, a Beijing scholar said that China's economic advantages will be further consolidated.

The global economy injects a "strong shot"

　　RCEP was initiated by ASEAN in 2012, and it took 8 years of negotiations to be successful.

In the words of Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Commerce and Deputy Representative of International Trade Negotiations, the RCEP negotiations have gone through various trials and hardships.

However, what is finally presented is a comprehensive, high-quality, modern, and mutually beneficial agreement.

　　For example, the total number of RCEP goods trade zero-tariff products exceeds 90%, which is a high level among large-scale free trade agreements; the level of service trade and investment liberalization is also significantly higher than the original "10+1" free trade agreement.

　　In addition, RCEP uses new technologies to promote customs facilitation and promote the development of new cross-border logistics; uses negative lists to make investment access commitments, which greatly enhances the transparency of investment policies; the agreement also includes high-level intellectual property and e-commerce chapters to adapt The needs of the digital economy era.

　　As the world's largest free trade agreement, the official signing of RCEP will bring significant benefits to Asia and the entire world economy.

　　Zhang Jianping, director of the Research Center for Regional Economic Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Commerce, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that RCEP is a "booster" for the sluggish world economy hit by the epidemic.

For many years, the Asia-Pacific region has been an important engine driving global economic growth.

The implementation of RCEP will further improve the quality of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, promote the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and promote the development of the Asia-Pacific and global economy.

　　Gao Lingyun, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also said that in recent years, the global economic center of gravity has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The signing and implementation of RCEP will further flow production factors and resources to the Pacific region and better promote the revitalization of the world economy.

　　More importantly, when the epidemic has accelerated unilateralism and protectionism, the 15 member states of RCEP insisted on advancing negotiations and finally signed an agreement, which undoubtedly supported free trade and economic globalization with tangible actions. Economically, it is even more significant.

China's economic advantages are further consolidated

　　The Chinese economy will also benefit significantly from the RCEP signing.

　　At present, ASEAN has surpassed the EU to become China's largest trading partner.

The signing of RCEP will further expand the scale of trade between China and ASEAN and promote the stability and improvement of China's foreign trade.

At the same time, the status and influence of China and ASEAN in the mutual economic and trade structure will be further enhanced.

　　China's dominant position in the global industrial chain supply chain structure will also be consolidated.

　　Gao Lingyun said that after the signing of RCEP, China and ASEAN will accelerate the formation of an enlarged version of the "world factory", that is, the "China + ASEAN" world factory, and the agglomeration effect of the industrial chain and supply chain will be further amplified.

Under this circumstance, the idea of ​​trying to "decouple" the industrial supply chain from China will increasingly lose its actual value and operability.

　　"With RCEP, China will have a better platform and greater space to build a new development pattern, which can allocate resources more efficiently and effectively support economic growth." Zhang Jianping said.

　　For the public and enterprises, the RCEP will also bring a lot of benefits.

For example, the total number of zero-tariff products in RCEP trade in goods exceeds 90%, which means that after the implementation of the agreement, Chinese consumers will be able to enjoy foreign high-quality goods at a cheaper price, and the cost of purchasing imported raw materials and equipment will be lower. Conducive to boost investment.

Start, not end

　　In recent years, despite the continuous rise of unilateralism and protectionism, the pace of China's signing of high-level free trade agreements has not slowed down, but has accelerated.

Analysts believe that the signing of RCEP will also have a positive effect on China's future free trade agreement negotiations.

　　Zhang Jianping said that RCEP has added two important free trade relations between China, Japan and South Korea, which provides a good preparation for China, Japan and South Korea to reach a free trade agreement with a higher level of openness on the basis of RCEP.

　　Gao Lingyun believes that after the RCEP negotiations, China's institutional opening will be accelerated, rules and regulations will be further in line with advanced international standards, and the negotiation ability will be stronger when negotiating trade agreements with other developed economies in the future.

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