China News Service, Beijing, May 26 (Jiang Li) Recently, US President Biden's first Asia-Pacific trip ended. He announced the launch of the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" as an extension of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" economic field. An attempt to win over a number of countries to form a "encirclement" of China and exclude China from the regional trade system.
U.S. officials are not shy about confronting China for regional economic influence.
Not long ago, US Trade Representative Dai Qi said in an interview that the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" aims to "effectively counter China's growing influence."
From the "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" strategy under the Obama administration, to the "Indo-Pacific strategy" under the Trump administration, and then to the improved version of the "Indo-Pacific strategy" under the Biden administration, the pace of the United States' return to the Asia-Pacific has never stopped.
The "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" launched this time is a means for the United States to attract Asia-Pacific countries under the guise of "trade". In essence, it still serves the geopolitical interests of the United States.
Despite the Biden administration's assertion that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is not a free trade agreement but a more relaxed and tailored arrangement than traditional free trade agreements, the lack of clear trade terms dims its prospects.
The U.S. government’s vision is ambitious, but analysts argue that without greater market access, the U.S. has no interest bait to encourage others to join.
On the one hand, it uses political hegemony to coerce other countries to choose sides, and on the other hand, it tries to attract as many countries as possible with empty promises to join the camp against China.
On the surface, the United States is trying to strengthen regional cooperation and promote regional openness and prosperity, but it is actually engaging in small circles and creating geopolitical confrontation, excluding China from the industrial and value chains in the Asia-Pacific region.
Such artificially created economic decoupling will inevitably destroy the originally stable supply chain network in the Asia-Pacific region, endanger the region's economy and related national interests, and doom its attempt to fail.
China is implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with high quality, actively building the 3.0 version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area with ASEAN members, and continuing to promote accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which continues to provide impetus for stable global and regional economic growth.
It can be expected that the layout of China's free trade zones will continue to be optimized in the future, and the door to opening to the outside world will be opened wider and wider.
The liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment between China and its free trade zone partners is conducive to strengthening global value chain collaboration and helping free trade partners achieve more stable and stronger economic growth.
Harmony and win-win cooperation are the mainstream voices in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Asia-Pacific should become a high ground for peaceful development, not a geopolitical arena.
As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, China has no geopolitical selfishness, but only sincerity in solidarity and cooperation.
China has no intention of competing with any country, but only hopes to develop together with other countries in the region.
Trying to use a framework to isolate China will ultimately isolate themselves.
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US-dominated IPEF lacks promise
By John Lee
(ECNS) -- The US government on Sunday announced the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in Tokyo, which is in fact an extension of the country's "Indo-Pacific Strategy", revealing its ulterior motives, that is, to set up a wider alliance to contain China.
Some US politicians openly talked about suppressing China with regional economic influence. Not long ago, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in an interview that the IPEF serves to “counter Chinese outreach in the region.”
This is proven by former US President Obama's strategy of advancing a rebalance toward Asia and the Pacific, Donald Trump's “Indo-Pacific Strategy” and the improved “Indo-Pacific Strategy” by the current Biden administration.
And the IPEF attracting more partners in the Asia-pacific region on the pretext of “trade” in essence still serves the geopolitical interests of the US
Although the Biden administration declared that the framework was not a free trade agreement (FTA), but a more relaxed and tailored arrangement, the lack of clear trade terms makes its prospects uncertain.
Analysts believe it is not easy for the IPEF to attract more participants because it doesn't offer incentives to prospective partners by lowering tariffs or provide signatories with greater access to US markets. On one hand, the US forces its allies to join its side by coercion, while on the other hand, the country dreams to absorb more partners with rubber cheque to suppress China.
It preaches the goal of strengthening regional cooperation and promoting the opening and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, but the real motives behind this strategy it to build up a small bloc to incite geopolitical confrontation to exclude China from the industrial and value chains of the region and eventually isolate it.
The US artificially decouples economic ties, which is bound to disrupt the originally stable supply chain network in the Asia-Pacific region, endanger the regional economy, along with the interests of relevant countries, thus leading to the failure of its scheme.
China is implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) with high quality, actively building version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area with ASEAN members, and continuously promoting its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) ) and the Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA), thus providing a continuous impetus for the steady growth of global and regional economies.
China's free trade zone layout is expected to be further optimized in the future, with the country aiming to open its doors wider. The liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment between China and its free trade partners is conducive to strengthening global value chain cooperation and helping its partners achieve more stable and stronger economic growth.
Harmony and win-win cooperation are the mainstream in the Asia-Pacific region. As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, China has no intention to engage in geopolitics, but only promote solidarity and cooperation sincerely. China has no intention to challenge any country, but only expect common development with regional countries. The one trying to use a framework to isolate China will eventually isolate itself.