In January 2023, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) ushered in the first anniversary of its entry into force. Since January 2, RCEP has officially entered into force for Indonesia, and has been implemented in 14 countries including China. Over the past year, against the backdrop of repeated delays in the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted fragility of the world economy, and severe challenges to economic globalization and free trade, RCEP, a free trade organization with the largest population, the most diverse membership structure, the largest economic and trade scale, and the greatest potential for development, has The trade agreement brings real dividends to the regional economy, especially the economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, effectively deepens the economic links between Asian economies, further strengthens the resilience of the industrial chain and supply chain in the region, and contributes to regional economic cooperation. And add new vitality to the development of the global economy.
Looking into the future, RCEP will continue to release dividends from tariff concessions, customs clearance convenience, and cross-border logistics convenience, which will help speed up and upgrade regional economic and trade cooperation, and inject new momentum into the construction of a unified market within the region and the realization of global prosperity and development.
Improve the level of regional cooperation
RCEP is signed by the ten ASEAN countries and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. It is a free trade area with the largest economic volume and development potential in the world. From January 1, 2022, RCEP will come into effect for 6 ASEAN member countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and 4 non-ASEAN member countries including China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. It will take effect for South Korea on March 18, Malaysia on March 18, Myanmar on May 1, and Indonesia on January 2 this year. At present, among the 15 signatories, the number of effective members has reached 14.
Analysts pointed out that RCEP has greatly boosted confidence in regional economic recovery since it came into effect one year ago, and has shown results in boosting the growth of foreign trade among member states. Inter-economic and trade cooperation and regional economic integration, and regional cooperation has thus moved to a higher level.
It is worth mentioning that for the first time, China and Japan, and Japan and South Korea have established free trade partnerships through RCEP, laying the foundation for the three countries to accelerate regional value chain cooperation.
In addition, the rapid growth of trade activities under the RCEP framework is one of the important reasons for the strong growth vitality of Southeast Asian economies. In a recent report released by the Asian Development Bank, the economic growth forecast in Southeast Asia was raised from 5.1% to 5.5%, which reflects to a certain extent the pulling effect of RCEP on the economies of ASEAN countries.
The reason is that RCEP maximizes the integration of the "fragmented" economic and trade institutional arrangements in the region by unifying tariff commitments, rules of origin, trade and investment facilitation, and other trade rules. Trade arrangements and 44 investment agreements. Over the past year, the dividends of the RCEP system such as tariff reductions, cumulative rules of origin, and trade facilitation have been released, bringing real growth and benefits to member states and their companies, promoting new trade and investment opportunities, and maintaining regional supply chains stability, injecting strong impetus into regional economic recovery.
Promote the development of the world economy
At present, the world economic growth is sluggish, and economic globalization and free trade are facing severe challenges. International observers believe that against the background of the overall gloomy world economy, RCEP is full of vitality. Although member states differ greatly in terms of economic systems, development levels, and scale, RCEP has found a balance between diversity and high standards, providing stability and certainty not only for the regional economy, but also for the world economy.
Over the past year, RCEP member countries have worked together to promote the implementation of this comprehensive, modern, high-quality and mutually beneficial free trade agreement, sending out positive signals of maintaining multilateralism, adhering to open cooperation, promoting free trade, and achieving common prosperity. It is of great significance for all members to tide over the difficulties together, and it also provides new impetus for the in-depth development of economic globalization. Over the past year, RCEP has not only promoted the continuous adjustment and expansion of the overall trade structure among member countries, but also further expanded the overall scale of RCEP's trade outside the region. For example, the volume of container shipments from East Asian ports to North America has reached a record high. This is a consideration. index.
As Peter Drysdale, director of the Institute of East Asian Economics at the Australian National University, said, RCEP is a huge stabilizing factor for the global trading system at a time when global trade is facing huge uncertainties. It can enhance the stability of regional economic growth and provide a good opportunity for the world economy to recover from shocks such as the new crown epidemic. In the first year of implementation, RCEP has shown the importance of filling the gaps in free trade agreements, boosting regional trade, and strengthening regional supply chains. It has the potential to serve as a platform to project Asian trade dividends to the world, and it will be able to promote the region and even the world economy in the future. develop.
Some analysts pointed out that RCEP, a free trade form with high level and unified trade and investment rules, provides a reference for building a higher level, larger scope and unified rules of free trade agreements in the future.
Bringing opportunities for win-win cooperation
"As the world's largest free trade agreement, RCEP promotes win-win cooperation and provides new opportunities for all parties." Gao Jinhua, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister of Cambodia and the new Secretary-General of ASEAN, recently expressed the aspirations of RCEP member states.
Thanks to the increasingly close exchanges and cooperation in the region, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between RCEP member states have increased significantly, and groups such as business, study abroad, and transnational marriages have continued to increase. Many people have a deep understanding of the changes brought about by RCEP, such as lower tariffs and convenient customs clearance. The entry into force of the new regulations has also accelerated the development of cross-border e-commerce trade in the region.
As the largest economy among RCEP member countries, China advocates true multilateralism and adheres to open regionalism. Over the past year, from promoting the development of trade in goods, ensuring the effectiveness of preferential rules of origin, to implementing high-standard customs procedures and trade facilitation rules, and improving the level of opening up of trade in services, China has worked with all relevant parties to implement RCEP in a comprehensive and high-quality manner. Its own new development has brought new opportunities to the world, boosted the regional economy to move forward against the wind, and allowed the world's largest free trade zone to release more dividends.
Since RCEP took effect one year ago, partners have fully shared the opportunities and development dividends of China's opening up. In the first 11 months of 2022, the total import and export volume between China and other RCEP member countries was 11.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, which continued to demonstrate the advantages of RCEP regional trade liberalization. In the first 11 months of 2022, China's import and export to ASEAN will increase by 15.5% year-on-year, which is higher than the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade. With the in-depth implementation of RCEP, its role in promoting intra-regional trade and investment will continue to emerge. There is no doubt that China plays an important role in RCEP and is also the main export destination of other RCEP member countries. The more powerful growth of China's economy in the future will bring broader development space to RCEP.
Analysts pointed out that at present, countries in the region have entered a critical stage of economic recovery. Whether it is to boost confidence in regional economic recovery or focus on long-term future development, it is necessary to deepen regional economic cooperation. The key is to make full use of RCEP's market opening commitments and rules to release the dividends of the agreement to a greater extent. It can be expected that in the future RCEP will help achieve higher-quality and deeper regional economic integration, inject stronger positive energy into the prosperity and development of the region and the world, and effectively promote the development of the multilateral trading system.
