The circle of friends in the China Free Trade Zone is constantly expanding.
Among them, the world's largest free trade zone has fully set sail: on January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially entered into force; entering 2023, with the formal accession of the Philippines, all 15 member countries have ratified the agreement .
This year's government work report proposes to actively promote accession to high-standard economic and trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), actively compare relevant rules, regulations, management, and standards, and steadily expand institutional opening-up. Prior to this, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also proposed to "expand the network of high-standard free trade zones facing the world."
Wang Shouwen, International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said at the recent press conference on the series of "authoritative departments talk about opening" held by the State Council Information Office: "The Ministry of Commerce continues to expand high-standard free trade zones for the world in accordance with the deployment of the Party Central Committee. network, we are prepared to take a series of measures to fully implement the spirit of the Party’s 20th National Congress.”
The circle of friends in the free trade zone continues to expand
At present, my country has signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions. The launch of RCEP has injected strong impetus into the growth of trade and investment in Southeast Asia and even the world.
Wang Shouwen said: "Last year, China's exports to other RCEP members increased by 17.5%, accounting for 27.6% of my country's total exports. RCEP has played a very important role in the development of our foreign trade."
Gao Yuning, deputy dean of the Institute of Service Economy and Digital Governance of Tsinghua University and associate professor of the School of Public Administration, said in an interview with China Business News that RCEP has become a free trade zone with the largest population, the largest economic scale, and the most diverse members. % and above zero tariff.
Entering 2023, RCEP has the latest progress: on January 2, RCEP officially came into effect for Indonesia; on February 21, the Senate of the Philippine Congress officially approved the RCEP approval letter, clearing the last domestic obstacle for the Philippines to join RCEP. 60 days after the Philippines submits its approval letter to the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, RCEP will officially enter into force for the Philippines.
Yuan Bo, deputy director and researcher of the Asian Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with China Business News: "The Philippines is the last member of the ten ASEAN countries to officially ratify RCEP. We are very concerned about this." She said that the Philippines is an ASEAN member A very important member of ASEAN, its population is second only to Indonesia. As one of the earliest old member states of ASEAN, the Philippines has a good overall economic foundation and has its own advantages in manufacturing, service industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery.
Yuan Bo said that after the Philippines formally ratifies RCEP, it is very beneficial to itself. "For example, this will help its agricultural and aquatic products to further expand exports, and it will also help attract foreign investment, thereby accelerating the development of manufacturing industries. At present, the Philippines is very keen to develop electric vehicles and other manufacturing industries, but its domestic supply chain support and other aspects There are certain difficulties and problems. For example, intermediate products need the support of RCEP members such as China. After RCEP takes effect, the Philippines can better utilize resources in the region and develop its manufacturing system.”
More importantly, the official approval of RCEP by the Philippines also means that ASEAN as a whole has completed its domestic approval procedures, which will help RCEP expand its economic influence and further exert its scale effect.
Yuan Bo said: "The Philippines is the thirteenth most populous country in the world, and it is also very rich in resources. Therefore, the Philippines' approval of the RCEP approval process not only expands the overall regional market of RCEP, but also better realizes resource advantages for all member states. complement each other and further improve the efficiency of trade and investment in the region.”
From the perspective of ASEAN, Yuan Bo believes that RCEP is also an important measure to further deepen the construction of the ASEAN community. The full implementation of RCEP in ASEAN means that in the future, ASEAN member states can further promote the coordinated development of RCEP and the construction of the ASEAN community, and at the same time better play ASEAN's leadership and centripetal force in RCEP. If ASEAN can play a more active role in RCEP and promote the high-quality implementation of RCEP more smoothly in the future, it will be able to better play the role of RCEP in promoting economic, trade, investment and other fields.
According to statistics from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, in January 2023, the national trade promotion system's preferential certificate of origin visas amounted to US$5.723 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.68%; the number of visas was 124,000, a year-on-year increase of 1.03%. The amount of preferential certificates of origin visas and the number of visas closely related to the free trade agreement are still showing a positive growth trend, and the growth rate of the visa amount is higher than the growth rate of the number of visas, indicating that the role of the free trade agreement in promoting the stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade has further emerged .