The growing economic giant China inked a number of trade deals with ASEAN in November, paving the way for the establishment of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Beijing and the association.
The move was heralded as a key economic development for the region, and the two parties hope to finish negotiation over the FTA by 2010, creating the world's third largest market, after NAFTA and the EU.
The free trade area, if successfully established, will include more than 2 billion people and have a GDP of more than than US$2 trillion.
According to Chinese officials, China is a huge market for ASEAN countries and the nation has trade deficits with many of them.
China's imports from ASEAN countries surged by 50 percent to US$47 billion in 2003, compared to exports of US$31 billion, increasing by 30 percent, according to official Chinese statistics.
Imports continued to increase by 42.5 percent to US$13.8 billion and exports totaled US$8.1 billion, up 31.9 percent from the first quarter of last year.
One of the biggest obstacles to creating the giant free trade area has been concern about agricultural tariffs, but a series of marathon negotiations managed to smooth out most of the member states' concerns.
Meanwhile, the proposed China-ASEAN FTA is being viewed as a significant challenge for many of the region's economies, particularly Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Although all three of these nations are members of the WTO, the increased pace of trade liberalization caused by a bilateral trade agreement between China and ASEAN could leave other countries out in the cold.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS