On January 1, 2022, the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP) officially entered into force, marking the official departure of the free trade area with the largest population, the largest economic and trade scale and the most development potential in the world. As a new benchmark for multilateral economic and trade cooperation and opening up, how will RCEP inject new impetus into China’s expansion of opening up?
After eight years of negotiations, RCEP was officially signed on November 15, 2020. China, 10 ASEAN countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other 15 member states witnessed this important historical moment.
Yang Zhengwei, deputy director of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China, pointed out in an interview with China News Agency and other media on the 1st that China will fully fulfill all commitments and obligations under the RCEP agreement from the 1st. In terms of market opening, the proportion of immediate zero tariff between China and ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand exceeds 65%. The proportion of immediate zero tariff between China and South Korea is 39% and 50% respectively. China and Japan have newly established free trade relations, and the proportion of mutual immediate zero tariffs has reached 25% and 57% respectively.
“On the basis of a large number of immediate zero tariff products, RCEP members will basically realize zero tariff for 90% of products in about 10 years.” Yang Zhengwei said.
China’s accession to RCEP has fully demonstrated its determination to open up. It is understood that RCEP’s opening level in various fields such as trade in goods and service investment is significantly higher than that promised by China in the world trade organization.
For example, in terms of trade in goods, the zero tariff level increased from 8% to 90%, covering China’s trade volume of about US $1.6 trillion; Compared with China’s accession to the WTO, the number of open sectors of service trade has increased to 122, and the commitment level of 37 sectors has also been improved.
In terms of investment, all Member States have adopted a negative list to make commitments to the opening of non service investment. This is the first time that China has included a negative list of non service investment in international agreements, made high-level liberalization commitments in five fields: manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishery and mining, and improved the transparency of investment policies.
In recent years, China has made it an important content to further promote high-level opening to the outside world. The entry into force of RCEP also means that China’s expansion of opening to the outside world will usher in new opportunities.
Yuan Bo, deputy director and researcher of the Asian Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that the so-called high-level opening to the outside world not only means the improvement of the opening level in traditional fields such as trade in goods, trade in services and investment, but also includes the opening up in the fields of e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement and intellectual property rights.
Taking the field of e-commerce as an example, RCEP includes provisions such as electronic authentication and signature, online consumer protection, online personal information protection and network security, as well as provisions such as data flow and information storage, which is of pioneering significance.
For example, the agreement stipulates that RCEP members should recognize the legal effect of electronic signatures and recognize electronic authentication technology, which makes the signing of online contracts, the authorization of electronic payments and the conclusion of online transactions fully protected and recognized by the agreement, and provides an important guarantee for the development and prosperity of e-commerce and digital trade in the region.
In addition, Yuan Bo pointed out that China’s establishment of free trade ties with Japan and South Korea under the framework of RCEP not only lays the foundation for a higher level of China Japan South Korea Free Trade Area negotiations, but also helps China actively promote its accession to higher standard free trade agreements such as the cptpp (Comprehensive and progressive cross The Pacific Securities Co.Ltd(601099) partnership agreement).
According to Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, RCEP has obvious advantages in terms of openness and open fields compared with China’s existing free trade agreements. The entry into force of RCEP will promote China to achieve a higher level of institutional opening, and better participate in the integrated development of regional industrial chain supply chain and the construction of integrated big market.
RCEP will also be a strong support in the process of building a “double cycle” new development pattern in China.
According to the data, the total population of RCEP member countries reached 2.27 billion, GDP reached 26 trillion US dollars, and total exports reached 5.5 trillion US dollars, accounting for about 30% of the global total. The huge economic volume and development space contained in this is self-evident.
Yuan Bo pointed out that expanding market access and facilitation measures will bring more characteristic goods, high-quality services and advanced technology to regional countries, better meet the production progress of enterprises and the needs of people for a better life, and smooth China’s great cycle. At the same time, the connectivity of international and Chinese markets and resources will also enable China to integrate more effectively into the global industrial chain, supply chain and value chain, and promote industrial transformation and upgrading and high-quality economic development. (end)
(China News Network)
