14 Asian countries signed China-led trade pact

[Cetacea]

15 November 2020, The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been signed as part of the virtual ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam, and is expected to take effect within two years, after it has been ratified by the member countries
RCEP is a free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region first proposed by the ten member states of ASEAN in 2012 and now extended to the wider region including Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. (ASEAN = Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam)
It is the first multilateral deal for China and the first time it has made deals that include Japan and Korea. RCEP becomes the worlds largest Trading Bloc with the 15 negotiating countries accounting for about 30% of both the world's population (approx 2.3 billion) and the global GDP. Nonetheless it does include a mix of rich and developing economies and there is concern that China will be able to dominate.

India had been a proposed member but pulled out last year due mainly to concerns for its agriculture sector against Australian/NZ imports and the potential for dumping of cheap manufacture goods from China.
There has also been concern raised about its Intellectual Property provisions being a bit weak and threatening Indias ability to supply cheap generic medicines to the world.

RCEP primarily addresses tariff, customs and rules of origin barriers to trade in goods. It also improves market access to Investment and Trade in Services (banking, health, education, engineering) and regulatory cooperation and good regulatory practice while maintaining sanitation and biosecurity independence. The RCEP also has chapters on Electronic Commerce, Competition Policy and Small and Medium Enterprises.
It does not cover environmental protections and labour rights.

Opinion:
While RCEP has the potential to improve access for exporters which could be help with the post COVID recovery, the withdrawal of India is a big concern, as it will leave China as the dominant player, with only Japan and maybe Australia in any position to balance that influence. I do like that the RCEP has abandoned some of the excess of the former TTP, most notably there appears to be no ISDS investor-state dispute settlement process (which allows corporations to sue governments for unfavourable laws) which is great and on that alone I'd support it.

Of course the US response will also be critical to how the region fares moving forward, Trumps withdrawal has given free run for Chinas diplomacy, so it will be interesting to see if Biden is appointed and reopens US engagement in the Asia-Pacific.

So globalised consumers of NSG what do you think about the new Asia Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership deal?

Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_ ... artnership

Aljazeera News https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/ ... trade-pact
Opinion Australian Financial Review https://www.afr.com/world/asia/rcep-is- ... 105-p537i3

[Willtime]

A new globalization attempt.
However,it is not so global.
So,when other parts of the world,especially India and US,have their reactions,things can be different.

I want to know what will other countries do.

[Nobel Hobos 2]

This probably would not have happened if the US hadn't pulled out of the TPP. *grumble*

Oh well. More markets for the developed economies in the deal, so I shouldn't begrudge that it's likely good for China too.
The only alternative to trade is a stagnant economy, and no risk no gain.

[Aclion]

I wish those countriesgood luck trying to wrestle with China

This probably would not have happened if the US hadn't pulled out of the TPP. *grumble*

Oh well. More markets for the developed economies in the deal, so I shouldn't begrudge that it's likely good for China too.
The only alternative to trade is a stagnant economy, and no risk no gain.

This is basically the tpp just without the US

[Nobel Hobos 2]

I wish those countriesgood luck trying to wrestle with China

This probably would not have happened if the US hadn't pulled out of the TPP. *grumble*

Oh well. More markets for the developed economies in the deal, so I shouldn't begrudge that it's likely good for China too.
The only alternative to trade is a stagnant economy, and no risk no gain.

This is basically the tpp just without the US

I'm pretty sure TPP didn't include China, by design. You're thinking of the CPTPP, which also includes Mexico and Canada, ie trans-pacific. It's not quite the same as TPP: no US, but also without two provisions which particularly offended leftists in the US ... it turns out nobody wanted them except US corporations!

My point was that a much stronger (bigger economically) TPP might have made countries like Vietnam and Australia less interested in another, overlapping trade pact. But I've reconsidered that. ASEAN clearly intended something like this since before the TPP was negotiated.

Another difference is the US is probably still welcome in the CPTPP, but not in the RCEP. I say that because Australia isn't a full member of ASEAN because we're not part of Asia (or maybe the rich white imperialists thing) and the US is probably even less welcome.

[Albrenia]

Yup, with the US under Trump rejecting all attempts to turn the region away from China, China takes the lead.

To absolutely nobody's surprise.

[Picairn]

An event that has little attention in the news but is strategically and geopolitically important.

14 Asian countries signed China-led trade pact

BEIJING — After eight years of talks, China and 14 other nations from Japan to New Zealand to Myanmar on Sunday formally signed one of the world’s largest regional free trade agreements, a pact shaped by Beijing partly as a counterweight to American influence in the region.

The agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or R.C.E.P., is limited in scope. Still, it carries considerable symbolic heft. The pact covers more of humanity — 2.2 billion people — than any previous regional free trade agreement and could help further cement China’s image as the dominant economic power in its neighborhood.

It also comes after a retreat by the United States from sweeping trade deals that reshape global relationships. Nearly four years ago, President Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or T.P.P., a broader agreement than the R.C.E.P. that was widely seen as a Washington-led response to China’s growing sway in the Asia-Pacific region. Joseph R. Biden Jr., the president-elect, has been noncommittal on whether he would join the T.P.P.’s successor.

To some trade experts, this new agreement shows that the rest of the world will not wait around for the United States. The European Union has also pursued trade negotiations at an aggressive pace. As other countries sign new deals, American exporters may gradually lose ground.

“While the United States is currently focused on domestic concerns, including the need to fight the pandemic and rebuild its economy and infrastructure, I’m not sure the rest of the world is going to wait until America gets its house in order,” said Jennifer Hillman, a senior fellow for trade and international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I think there are going to have to be some responsive actions to what China is doing.”

Because of the pandemic, the signing of the agreement on Sunday was unusual, with separate ceremonies held in each of the 15 member countries all linked by video. Each country’s trade minister took turns signing a separate copy of the pact while his or her head of state or head of government stood nearby and watched.

Simultaneously broadcast on a split screen, the different ceremonies offered a glimpse of each country’s political culture. Vietnam, the host nation for the talks this year, and South Korea and Cambodia each had one or two small desktop flags next to their ministers. At the other extreme, China’s ceremony was conducted in front of a wall of five very large, bright red Chinese flags.

Premier Li Keqiang, China’s second-highest official after Xi Jinping, oversaw the Beijing event. In a statement released by the state news media, he called the pact “a victory of multilateralism and free trade.”

The R.C.E.P. encompasses the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The pact will most likely formalize, rather than remake, business between the countries. The R.C.E.P. eliminates tariffs mainly for goods that already qualify for duty-free treatment under existing free trade agreements. It allows countries to keep tariffs for imports in sectors they regard as especially important or sensitive. The pact’s so-called rules of origin will set common standards for how much of a product must be produced within the region for the final product to qualify for duty-free treatment. These rules could make it simpler for companies to set up supply chains that span several countries.

It has little impact on legal work, accounting or other services that cross borders, and does not venture far into the often-divisive issue of ensuring greater intellectual property protections. The R.C.E.P. also skirts broad issues like protecting independent labor unions and the environment and limiting government subsidies to state-owned enterprises.

Most conspicuously, the pact does not include India, another regional giant. The New Delhi government pulled out of the negotiations in July. China had rebuffed India’s demands for a more ambitious pact that would have done far more to tie together the region’s economies, including trade in services as well as trade in goods.

He Weiwen, a former Commerce Ministry official in Beijing and prominent Chinese trade policy expert, said that the deal nonetheless represented a big step forward.

“The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, due to its size, will certainly contribute to world free trade,” he said.

The agreement’s lower trade barriers could encourage global companies trying to avoid Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese-made goods to keep work in Asia rather than shift it to North America, said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

“R.C.E.P. gives foreign companies enhanced flexibility in navigating between the two giants,” she said. “Lower tariffs within the region increases the value of operating within the Asian region, while the uniform rules of origin make it easier to pull production away from the Chinese mainland while retaining that access.”

The prospect of China’s forging closer economic ties with its neighbors has prompted concern in Washington. President Barack Obama’s response was the T.P.P., which had extensive provisions on services, intellectual property, independent labor unions and environmental protection. It also called for limits on state sponsorship of industries, serving as both a challenge to China and an enticement for Beijing to relax its grip on its economy, the world’s second largest.

The T.P.P. did not include China but encompassed many of its biggest trading partners, like Japan and Australia, as well as Chinese neighbors like Vietnam and Malaysia. After President Trump pulled the United States out of that arrangement, the other 11 countries then went ahead with it on their own.

China has been eager to move into that vacuum. Still, it must navigate India’s ambitions. India’s relations with China have deteriorated considerably in recent months amid clashes between troops on their mountainous shared border.

Beijing had initially tried to sway New Delhi into joining the R.C.E.P. However, Indian politicians were leery of lowering their country’s steep tariffs and admitting a further flood of Chinese manufactured goods. China ships $60 billion a year more in goods to India than it receives.

India sought more flexibility to increase tariffs if imports surged. It also sought tariff reductions for low-end, labor-intensive industrial goods for which production has already been moving out of China. But Beijing has been wary of letting high-employment industries like shoe and shirt manufacturing move out of China too quickly.

“As far as India is concerned, we did not join R.C.E.P. as it does not address the outstanding issues and concerns of India,” Riva Ganguly Das, the secretary for Eastern relations at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said at a news briefing on Thursday.

Still, Ms. Das stressed that India remained interested in deepening trade ties in Southeast Asia.

It is unclear how the United States will respond to the new trade pact. While Mr. Biden is set to assume office in January, trade and China have become fraught issues.

The T.P.P. came under fire from both Republicans and Democrats for exposing American businesses to foreign competition. It remains contentious, and Mr. Biden has not said whether he would rejoin the deal — renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — once he enters office. But analysts say it is unlikely to be a high priority.

Mr. Biden has said he would wait to negotiate any new trade deals. He wants to focus his energy on the pandemic, the economic recovery and investing in American manufacturing and technology.

In a nutshell, the pact called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region between the ten ASEAN states (i.e. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and five of their FTA partners—Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. The 15 member countries account for about 30% of the world's population and GDP, making it the largest trade bloc. It was signed at the Vietnam-hosted virtual ASEAN Summit on 15 November 2020, and is expected to take effect within two years, after it has been ratified by the member countries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiona ... artnership

As I have expected, Trump's trade war was insufficient to stop China's economic expansion into smaller Asian states. Indeed, his abandonment of allies in the region and the pull-out of TPP were his biggest failures, inviting China to fill in the vaccuum.

This deal is a decisive blow to Trump's strategy of containing China. Member states have signalled that if Trump and the US have abandoned their allies, then they will seek better economies elsewhere. I expect that more deals will come in the future from Central Asian states, since they are the main recipients of China's Belt & Road Initiative.

What says you, NSG? What is your opinion on this matter?

[The Emirate of The Emirate]

How will this affect Biden?

[Romextly]

This is horrible

[Picairn]

How will this affect Biden?

So far, Biden has been noncommittal on rejoining TPP. I'm afraid that he will have his hands full with domestic affairs before he can concentrate on containing China's influence.

[TURTLESHROOM II]

How will this affect Biden?

So far, Biden has been noncommittal on rejoining TPP. I'm afraid that he will have his hands full with domestic affairs before he can concentrate on containing China's influence.

They did this because Biden is probably going to be the next President. They sensed, and know, his weakness and dealings with China. Biden is a capitulator and Chinese butt kisser that is both weak and ineffective at foreign diplomacy, just like Obama and his Red Lines.

China doing this is like how the Iranian Embassy Siege ended with Reagan.

Except in reverse.

I initially strongly supported Trump withdrawing from the TPP because it created a supranational governing body where the USA had one vote. That was a threat to our sovereignty.

Now, looking back, I realize that it was better than nothing. If I had known then what I know now, I would have supported the TPP.

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

[TURTLESHROOM II]

So far, Biden has been noncommittal on rejoining TPP. I'm afraid that he will have his hands full with domestic affairs before he can concentrate on containing China's influence.

That's because Biden doesn't want to contain Red Chinese influence. Just like with the NBA and Nike, it's simply too profitable.

[Picairn]

They did this because Biden is probably going to be the next President. They sensed, and know, his weakness and dealings with China. Biden is a capitulator and Chinese butt kisser that is both weak and ineffective at foreign diplomacy, just like Obama and his Red Lines.

So far Trump is still the President. This is a death blow to his whole strategy of containing China's influence. It would seem that after 4 years of trade wars and diplomatic clashes, Trump's strategy ended in a culminating failure.

China doing this is like how the Iranian Embassy Siege ended with Reagan.

Except in reverse.

I initially strongly supported Trump withdrawing from the TPP because it created a supranational governing body where the USA had one vote. That was a threat to our sovereignty.

Now, looking back, I realize that it was better than nothing. If I had known then what I know now, I would have supported the TPP.

Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

Obama already knew TPP was a deterrent against Chinese economic expansion and influence. That was the real purpose of TPP, to serve as a counterbalance to BRI. Since Trump tore it apart and reduced US presence in the region, China filling in the vaccuum is no longer a question of if, but when.

[TURTLESHROOM II]

This deal is a decisive blow to Trump's strategy of containing China. Member states have signalled that if Trump and the US have abandoned their allies, then they will seek better economies elsewhere.

A Lame Duck President isn't able to do anything much, dude.

Wrong. China is on the offensive because Biden won't do anything to stop them, just like Obama let Russia use him as a doormat in the Ukraine and Assad laughed at his little Red Line.

It's the Reagan Embassy Siege in reverse.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Is anyone really surprised? The world continues to move, with or without the US. *shrug*

[Sundiata]

How we meet the Communist challenge is up to you.

The majority of the world's population live under their control, the conspiracy that is Communism is stronger, more determined than ever. It's growing in the image of Xi Jinping. He says that history looks favorably on China. His target is us, our institutions, our religions, our families, our country. He establishes a network of spies to steal the fruits of our technology, the rewards of the free world. Communists maneuvered their way into the government of Hong Kong. The reds are able to unfortunately still able to gain many converts. Xi Jinping thinks it's a done deal, but he's not seen anything yet.

[Picairn]

Wrong. China is on the offensive because Biden won't do anything to stop them, just like Obama let Russia use him as a doormat in the Ukraine and Assad laughed at his little Red Line.

It's the Reagan Embassy Siege in reverse.

Actually no, it is the product of Trump's failure to expand US influence in the region, after tearing apart the TPP and returning to isolationism.

[Philjia]

How we meet the Communist challenge is up to you.

The majority of the world's population live under their control, the conspiracy that is Communism is stronger, more determined than ever. It's growing in the image of Xi Jinping. He says that history looks favorably on China. His target is us, our institutions, our religions, our families, our country. He establishes a network of spies to steal the fruits of our technology, the rewards of the free world. Communists maneuvered their way into the government of Hong Kong. The reds are able to unfortunately still able to gain many converts. Xi Jinping thinks it's a done deal, but he's not seen anything yet.

The Chinese Communist Party has no real regard for the ideology of communism beyond how it can be used to exercise power. Both the economic and social aspects of Marxism have been discarded in favour of the much more amorphous "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics", which has allowed China to build the second largest capitalist economy in the world while maintaining the aesthetics of communism. The only parts of capitalism which the CCP are interested in dismantling are those which impede their ability to exert more control over their population. The ideological struggle between west and east is not between capitalism and communism, but between liberal democracy and authoritarian bureaucracy, although even this is merely a distraction from the real heart of it, which is the matter of which state gets to be the most powerful on the international stage.

[Albrenia]

Nice work fucking it all up Trump. Pulling out of trade deals meant to contain China worked out really well, didn't it?

[Romextly]

Nice work fucking it all up Trump. Pulling out of trade deals meant to contain China worked out really well, didn't it?

Biden ain't gonna do much either

[Albrenia]

Nice work fucking it all up Trump. Pulling out of trade deals meant to contain China worked out really well, didn't it?

Biden ain't gonna do much either

Time will tell I guess.

[Romextly]

Biden ain't gonna do much either

Time will tell I guess.

Yes

[Sungoldy-China]

This is an exaggerated system, this is just an investment and tariff reduction agreement between countries in the region.

And there is already a tariff agreement between the countries that signed the agreement. This is just a unified standard.

On the contrary, TPP is a subversive system, requiring participating countries to carry out economic system reforms, setting up a court to be able to rule on national governments and multinational companies, etc.

The signing of TPP can reverse the direction of the flow of the world economy, But the signing of this RCEP is nothing but a wave of the world economy.

[Deacarsia]

This is a disaster!

[Picairn]

This is an exaggerated system, this is just an investment and tariff reduction agreement between countries in the region.

And there is already a tariff agreement between the countries that signed the agreement. This is just a unified standard.

On the contrary, TPP is a subversive system, requiring participating countries to carry out economic system reforms, setting up a court to be able to rule on national governments and multinational companies, etc.

The signing of TPP can reverse the direction of the flow of the world economy, But the signing of this RCEP is nothing but a wave of the world economy.

Actually, a closer look at RCEP reveals that it may be worse than you think.