RCEP signed: Asia-Pacific demolishes the wall to build the largest free trade zone
Text/Li Hongdi
Published in the 973th issue of China News Weekly on November 23, 2020
On November 15, the fourth leaders' meeting of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) was held via video.
The ten ASEAN countries and 15 countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand have formally signed the RCEP agreement, which means that about one-third of the world's economy will form an integrated market.
Officially disclosed data show that in 2019, the total population of the 15 member states of RCEP reached 2.27 billion, GDP reached 26 trillion U.S. dollars, and total exports reached 5.2 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly 30% of the global total.
The construction process of the Free Trade Area started on November 20, 2012. During the East Asian Leaders’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the leaders of the ten ASEAN countries and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and other countries jointly issued the " Joint Statement to Start Negotiations.
The relevant person in charge of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce summarized the significance of the agreement from three aspects: RCEP will become an important platform for my country to expand opening up in the new era; RCEP will help my country form a new domestic and international dual-cycle development pattern; RCEP will significantly enhance my country’s free trade zone Network "gold content".
After 8 years of negotiations, despite the twists and turns of India's withdrawal from the negotiations during the Bangkok meeting in Thailand last year, the final conclusion of all textual negotiations and the signing of the agreement means that the world's largest free trade area will soon be formed.
Not only is China bound to become the biggest beneficiary country in RECP with its huge manufacturing capacity and consumer market, if RECP is successfully implemented, the Asia-Pacific region will become the center of world economic development in the future.
The signing of the RCEP triggered many reactions, first of all about the absence of India.
In fact, ASEAN leaders told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 12 that RCEP still “retained an open door” for India.
On the 14th, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also stated that he hopes to expand "free and fair economic groups" through the participation of India in the future.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin both expressed their welcome to India to join RCEP in the future.
The Straits Times quoted James Crabtree, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, as saying on November 15 that India’s decision not to join the RCEP is also an issue for India itself. "Historic mistake".
On the other hand, Australia emphasized the impact of RCEP on China-Australia relations.
Australian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham (Simon Birmingham) said he hopes RCEP will help improve the current tense relations between China and Australia.
The United States, the world’s largest economy, is not included in the RCEP. The New York Times reported on November 15 that “China-led trade agreement signing poses a challenge to the United States.” The Financial Times believes that the United States is in President Trang. After exiting the "Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) under the leadership of the general public, he stayed out of TPP and RCEP.
"This means that when Asia formulates its own trade rules, the EU and the United States, the world's two traditional trade superpowers, have no say."
Singapore’s "Lianhe Zaobao" is concerned that after the agreement is signed, all countries must complete their own approval procedures within two years before RCEP will officially take effect. It is estimated that import taxes between participating countries will be gradually eliminated within 20 years, thereby improving regional goods and services. market