(East-West Question) Xu Ningning: Why does RCEP affect the world economy by "three-thirds"?

　　China News Agency, Nanning, January 9th: Xu Ningning: Why does RCEP affect the world economy by "three percent"?

　　China News Agency reporter Jiang Xuelin

　　With the joint efforts of all member states, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was initiated by ASEAN in 2012 and lasted 8 years. Effective January 1, 2022.

The effective implementation of the agreement is a milestone in the cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

What impact will it have on the regional and world economy?

What kind of opportunities will companies get from this?

Xu Ningning, executive chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Council, chief business expert of China-ASEAN, and chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East-West Question" for interpretation.

China News Service: What impact will the implementation of RCEP have on China-ASEAN cooperation?

Xu Ningning:

RCEP has many facilitation and liberalization clauses and contents for service trade and investment trade, which is very beneficial to promoting China-ASEAN cooperation.

With the formal implementation of the agreement, cooperation between China and ASEAN will gain more opportunities for deep market integration on the basis of the previous FTA framework.

Especially in terms of mutual investment, it provides more institutional basis for liberalization and facilitation for enterprises, which is also an important basis for China and ASEAN to further deepen the supply chain and enhance the resilience.

On September 10, 2021, the China-ASEAN Business Leaders Forum and the special meeting on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations were held in Nanning, Guangxi.

The picture shows a special dialogue session on the theme of "RCEP Leads Future Growth" at the forum.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Guanyan

　　The implementation of RCEP will be conducive to the industry docking and industrial cooperation between China and ASEAN, and the two parties are expected to achieve positive docking oriented by complementary development advantages and industrial upgrading.

With this help, the flexibility and representativeness of the China-ASEAN Business Association will be brought into full play, and the industrial cooperation between the two sides will be pushed to a new height.

　　After the implementation of RCEP, China and ASEAN supported bilateral cooperation in digital economy, green economy, connectivity and other fields with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) policy to jointly promote innovative development, sustainable development and integrated development, meet challenges and create a future. And promote the rapid economic recovery after the epidemic.

In the production workshop of Guangxi Luyuan Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. in Gangbei District, Guigang City, Guangxi, workers are assembling electric vehicles.

In recent years, Guigang City has actively expanded the ASEAN market and planned to build a China-ASEAN new energy electric vehicle production base.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Huang Yanmei

China News Service: Will the implementation of RCEP strengthen ASEAN's centrality in Asia-Pacific economic cooperation?

Xu Ningning:

The five "10+1" FTAs ​​established by ASEAN and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand reflect the centrality of ASEAN.

Eight years ago, ASEAN initiated the RCEP negotiation. After the joint efforts of the 15 members, it finally came into effect on January 1 this year.

RCEP is initiated and led by ASEAN, which reflects its leading role in regional cooperation and enhances ASEAN's international status.

In the construction of RCEP, China and ASEAN have closely cooperated and played an important role in promoting.

After the official signing of RCEP on November 15, 2020, the leaders of China and ASEAN countries have talked on many occasions about the expectation that the agreement will be effective at an early date.

　　One of the successful experiences of ASEAN's development is "free trade + multilateral cooperation".

　　ASEAN is the first region in East Asia to implement a free trade area. The FTA policy promotes ASEAN unity, stability and economic growth.

Every time it encounters a crisis, such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the international financial crisis in 2008, the new crown epidemic, etc., ASEAN regards further promotion of FTA and economic integration as an important measure to deal with the crisis.

On August 30, 2019, the opening ceremony of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone was held in Nanning, Guangxi.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Guanyan

　　Although some ASEAN countries are worried that a few industries and industries in their own countries will be affected, ASEAN has signed several FTAs ​​with relevant countries, and some large countries outside the region (including China) invest in ASEAN industries, thus expanding the international market, which is conducive to the overall industrial upgrading of ASEAN.

For example, Indonesia was the most concerned about FTA in the past. In recent years, Chinese enterprises have promoted the industrial upgrading of Indonesia from mining and deep processing of mineral products to the construction of industrial parks. Another example is the signing of FTA between Vietnam and the EU. Vietnam carries out garment processing, and gradually invests in Vietnam when it develops into supporting enterprises.

Under the baptism of FTA, ASEAN has become one of the most dynamic regions in the world economy.

On September 10, 2021, at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo, Malaysian coffee was very popular.

Photo by Peng Huan issued by China News Agency

China News Service: What impact will the implementation of RCEP have on the world economy?

Xu Ningning:

After the RCEP takes effect, it will inject new vitality into the world economic growth.

In terms of the highlights of world economic growth, no other regional cooperation brings more expectations to the world economy, because after all, it is the world's largest economy composed of 30% of the global population, 30% of the global trade scale and 30% of the global GDP scale. FTA.

　　The implementation of RCEP will surely push China-ASEAN cooperation to a higher level.

China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners and important investment partners.

The effective implementation of the agreement has made East Asia the growth engine of the world economy, and the driving force of this engine is mainly China and ASEAN.

On December 29, 2018, COSCO SHIPPING's "Hainan-ASEAN (Singapore)" liner route launched its maiden voyage at Yangpu Port, Hainan.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei

　　RCEP not only accelerates economic and trade cooperation between countries in the region, but also helps attract foreign companies to invest in member countries.

At the same time, the implementation of the agreement will push the Asia-Pacific regional economic integration into a new stage of development. The member states will activate the regional development potential by opening their markets to each other, promote the recovery and growth of the regional economy, and jointly cope with the instability of the world economy.

In addition, the agreement also reflects the determination of the signatory countries to jointly promote free trade and multilateral cooperation and contribute to the global economy.

East Asian economies will continue to play a leading role in global economic growth.

　　It is worth mentioning that after the implementation of RCEP, the integrated development of member states will be beneficial to regional stability and the improvement and development of mutual relations.

　　At present, although some member states have encountered some problems in their relations with China, the RCEP is essentially a free trade agreement and an economic concept, which is reached by countries on the basis of following economic laws.

During the implementation process, I hope to improve bilateral relations as soon as possible, increase good-neighborliness and friendship, and jointly promote the construction of RCEP to achieve its intended purpose, so that it can actually provide impetus for the economic growth of various countries.

On December 3, 2021, the China-Laos Railway, which connects Kunming, China and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is fully operational with Chinese standards.

The picture shows the conductors in national costumes bringing special programs to passengers.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Ranyang

China News Service: There is already RCEP between China and ASEAN. Why should we start the construction of the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area?

Xu Ningning:

At the 30th Anniversary Summit of China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations held not long ago, Chinese leaders proposed to start the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was officially launched on January 1, 2010, and an upgraded version 2.0 was launched in 2019. The zero-tariff has covered more than 90% of the tax items of both sides.

The 3.0 version launched this time will greatly improve the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

　　After RCEP came into effect, China and ASEAN promoted the construction of version 3.0 of the Free Trade Area, with the aim of further laying a better foundation and favorable conditions for future construction through the upgrade of the "10+1" FTA.

After all, the level of economic development, market maturity, industrial characteristics and openness of the 15 member states are different. To further improve the agreement, it is especially necessary to further upgrade the "10+1" FTA.

The construction of the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area will provide a model for the upgrade of the remaining four "10+1" FTAs ​​and a reference for pilot testing.

On April 24, 2021, the China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Center was inaugurated and operated in the Nanning Area of ​​the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone. It will create a "one-stop" service platform and expand new space for China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Lin Hao

　　Compared with RCEP, China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 will have a higher degree of market openness between the two sides, and investment liberalization and facilitation will be greatly improved.

Between China and ASEAN, there has been experience in the negotiation of version 2.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, and the negotiation on the construction of version 3.0 will be easier to complete.

　　The construction of RCEP will promote the negotiation of the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area. Only with a higher degree of trade and investment facilitation than RCEP, it has meaning.

The construction of version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area will also promote the construction of RCEP and make it more perfect.

(Finish)

Interviewee Profile:

　　Xu Ningning, Executive Chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Council, Chief Business Expert of China-ASEAN, Chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Center of the International Studies Foundation of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Visiting professor of China Foreign Affairs University and China University of International Business and Economics.

He graduated from the Economics Department of Nanjing University in 1981 and was a visiting scholar at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore in 1992.

Since 1991, he has specialized in the promotion of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.

Published 22 books on economics including "The Belt and Road Initiative: China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Cooperation", "China-ASEAN: Jointly Building the Maritime Silk Road", and "Xu Ningning: China-ASEAN "Zero Tariff" Diary.