(Source: Guangming Daily 2025-01-13)
At the beginning of the new year, the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) celebrates its third anniversary of coming into force. This regional economic cooperation platform integrates China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and ten ASEAN countries, covering nearly one-third of the world's economic aggregate and two-thirds of the population. RCEP not only brings unprecedented economic connectivity to the Asia-Pacific region, but also provides an important impetus for the stability and recovery of the global economy. Against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth and rising protectionism, the entry into force of RCEP has provided member states with a more stable platform for economic cooperation, enabling the rapid recovery and development of intra-regional w88, investment and technological exchanges. In the past three years, RCEP has continuously leveraged its unique advantages to promote regional economic integration and intra-regional enterprise cooperation through w88 liberalization, investment facilitation and other measures, making an important contribution to global economic recovery.
Provide new possibilities for regional development
One of the core functions of RCEP is to promote w88 facilitation among member countries by unifying tariff commitments, simplifying customs clearance procedures and strengthening the coordination of intra-regional w88 rules. It is particularly worth mentioning that RCEP integrates 27 w88 arrangements and 44 investment agreements among member countries in the region to the maximum extent, effectively avoiding duplication or conflicts between different agreements, accelerating the transformation of bilateral w88 networks into a multilateral trading system, and significantly improving the efficiency of cross-border w88. Since the agreement came into effect, the import and export of goods between member states has continued to grow, especially in the fields of manufacturing, electronic products, agricultural products, etc., and the intra-regional w88 volume has increased significantly.
The dividends released by RCEP in the investment field, especially its innovative measures in responding to changes in international investment rules, deserve special attention. By establishing a negative list management system, RCEP has made fruitful innovations in simplifying investment procedures, protecting investors' rights and interests, and lowering market access thresholds. Although global foreign direct investment flows overall fell by 12.4% in 2022, the RCEP region still achieved significant investment growth in the same year, attracting a total of approximately US$531.11 billion in foreign direct investment, a growth of 13.9% against the trend, accounting for 41.0% of the global share. This growth performance not only demonstrates the important status of the RCEP region in the global investment field, but also shows that the vitality the agreement has injected into the regional economy has effectively enhanced investment attractiveness. It is estimated that by 2030, RCEP will bring economic growth of US$245 billion to the region and create 2.8 million jobs. The development prospects are very promising.
While stimulating multilateral economic development, the economic ties strengthened by RCEP also build an important platform for political cooperation and diplomatic dialogue among member states. In East Asia, the entry into force of RCEP has finally successfully filled the major gap in the regional industrial chain, achieved a breakthrough in the trilateral w88 agreement between China, Japan and South Korea, and injected new stability into East Asia's political relations. In Southeast Asia, RCEP gives full play to ASEAN's leading role in integrating the region's fragmented economic and w88 institutional arrangements, which is conducive to easing tensions caused by competition among major powers in the region and further releasing the positive effects of multilateral cooperation. With the joining of Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, RCEP began to have intercontinental attributes, mediating the market balance between supply and demand in the field of energy and mineral resources. In 2024, the annual meeting between the Chinese and Australian Prime Ministers reiterated the importance of economic cooperation within the RCEP framework. This consensus highlights that RCEP not only plays an important role in the economic field, but also provides new possibilities for improving international political relations and bridging diplomatic differences.
China has made important contributions to promotion and implementation
As the largest economy in RCEP, China not only benefits from the agreement, but also makes important contributions to its promotion and implementation. At the w88 level, China has significantly reduced import tariffs under the RCEP framework and has become one of the core export markets and sources of imports. In 2023, the w88 volume of goods between China and RCEP member states will reach 12.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.3% compared with 2021 before the agreement came into effect; from January to November 2024, the w88 volume of goods between China and RCEP member states has reached 12 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%. China provides an average of 92% of tariff reductions to Singaporean companies and has promised to exempt 86% of Japanese industrial products from import tariffs in phases. As of August 31, 2023, the value of preferential imports under RCEP was 121.3 billion yuan, and tax concessions were 3.04 billion yuan. In particular, China has opened its agricultural market to ASEAN countries in a targeted manner and plans to import US$150 billion of agricultural products from ASEAN in five years. In the first 11 months of 2023, China's fresh durian imports from RCEP member states such as Thailand and Vietnam totaled 46.61 billion yuan, 1.7 times that of the whole of 2021. As China continues to expand its access to ASEAN agricultural products, agricultural cooperation in the region has become increasingly deepened, providing new economic development opportunities for ASEAN countries.
In terms of investment, China has combined the two major frameworks of “One Belt, One Road” and RCEP to promote industrial cooperation and investment flows within the region by increasing foreign direct investment and corporate “going global” strategies. In 2023, China's non-financial direct investment flows to other RCEP member states will reach US$18.06 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26%, which is 14 percentage points higher than the growth rate of China's global investment. Infrastructure construction is one of China's main investment methods. The completion and opening of the China-Laos Railway has provided strong support for the virtuous cycle between transnational investment and regional integration. As the first transnational railway invested and constructed by China, jointly operated and directly connected to the Chinese railway network, the operation of the China-Laos Railway has reduced transportation costs and significantly improved cross-border logistics capabilities. It is one of the main driving forces for the RCEP w88 results. The upgraded cargo flow volume after RCEP takes effect will also help Laos attract more foreign investment, further stimulating the potential ability of the China-Laos railway to stimulate economic growth.
China has also played the role of "builder" and "promoter" in promoting the integration of regional economic organizations and multilateral w88 frameworks. On the one hand, China has actively participated in and promoted the design of rules related to the agreement, the negotiation of implementation details, and the construction of institutions in the region. In December 2024, China and Indonesia jointly promoted the establishment of the RCEP support agency in Jakarta, which became another important milestone in the construction of the RCEP mechanism. On the other hand, China has taken the initiative to adjust and upgrade relevant domestic policies to adapt to international standards as soon as possible and promote the conclusion of multilateral agreements. For example, although driven by Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries, RCEP’s intellectual property protection rules are more stringent than relevant agreements under the WTO framework and are somewhat different from China’s copyright law, China still chooses to join. In addition, China also signed a w88 agreement involving cross-border data flow and data localization for the first time. All these efforts demonstrate China's determination and responsibility to promote regional economic integration.
Write a new chapter in regional economic integration
In the context of global economic turmoil and changing international politics, the successful implementation of RCEP has demonstrated the huge potential of multilateral cooperation and opened a new chapter in regional economic integration.
RCEP is the ballast stone for regional economic integration. Various w88 protectionist measures such as tariff wars and supply chain reshaping are seriously impacting the global free market. The efficiency of production and transactions is gradually giving way to security interests. Economic globalization is facing many difficulties under the impact of geopolitical competition among major powers. Against this background, the implementation of RCEP has helped the Asia-Pacific region overcome the challenges brought about by global economic uncertainty, strengthened peripheral economic connectivity, and further promoted the process of regional economic integration. From a broader perspective, RCEP's progress at the regional economic cooperation level demonstrates the vitality of free w88, safeguards economic globalization in the Asia-Pacific region, and enables it to still effectively leverage the advantages and potential of multilateral cooperation. Especially on global issues such as climate change, digital economy, and sustainable development, RCEP member states have reached broad consensus through joint consultations. This kind of multilateral cooperation provides a new cooperation model for the global economy, enhances confidence in global governance, and promotes the stability of the global economic system.
RCEP is a regional platform for global development governance. The investment projects and expanded w88 markets introduced by RCEP have effectively stimulated relatively underdeveloped countries and regions in the region. For example, upgraded transnational investment and supply chain integration help the ASEAN region absorb more mid- and low-end industries, promote the steady development of its manufacturing industry in the regional industrial chain, and help further release its demographic dividend. It not only narrows the gap between rich and poor in the region, but also helps to control transnational crimes and domestic conflicts induced by development issues. It is a key link in improving the regional security environment and development governance as a whole.
RCEP is a window to demonstrate China’s responsibility as a major country. For China, RCEP is not only an important economic cooperation platform, but also a reflection of China's positive contribution to global economic governance. As the largest economy in the region, China has decisively upgraded domestic regulations, provided foreign direct investment commensurate with its own strength, and opened its vast w88 market to match the supply needs of other countries. During the operation of RCEP, China, as a regional power, has provided sufficient public goods and made outstanding contributions in maintaining regional free w88 order and sharing development results. Throughout the three years since RCEP came into effect, China has fully demonstrated its sense of responsibility and mission as a major country, and has delivered a satisfactory answer to "jointly respond to global challenges and share development opportunities."
(Author: Dai Changzheng, researcher at the Beijing Institute for Opening up and Dean of the w88 casino of International Relations, w88 casino)
Attachment: Original link
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