China wants to seal the deal on a trade agreement with Southeast Asian nations as soon as possible with a US-led pact now in doubt, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce official said yesterday.
The nation will work with ASEAN to negotiate the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ministry spokesman Shen Danyang (沈丹陽) said in a briefing in Beijing, echoing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Saturday speech to the APEC meeting in Peru.
China will actively participate in multilateral or bilateral trade and work closely with WTO members to foster “freer and more convenient” global trade regardless of how the ASEAN-backed RCEP or US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) fare, Shen said.
China’s bid to assert its economic leadership is gaining traction in its push for the Asia-wide trade pact in the wake of US president-elect Donald Trump’s surprise victory, which dashed hopes for the US-led deal that would have taken in about 40 percent of the global economy. The TPP excludes China and the RCEP excludes the US.
Securing a deal would further enmesh the world’s second-largest economy in the region and help cement China’s role as a geopolitical leader. It would boost China’s clout in a region where it has territorial disputes with neighbors — including Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines — and is looking to displace decades of US strategic dominance.
The US withdrawal from the 12-nation TPP — reaffirmed by Trump in a video released on Monday — has focused attention on a competing set of trade talks. The next round of RCEP negotiations will be held from Friday next week to Dec. 10 in Bumi Serpong Damai city, near Jakarta.
Xi told APEC members on Saturday that China pledges to boost global trade and cooperation by opening up further and giving greater access to foreign investors.
Beijing wants a level playing field for foreign and local companies so that they can share in the country’s growth, he said.
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