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Reuters, Beijing, Nov. 19 – Unilateral trade protection barriers overlap the interference of the new corona epidemic and the international free trade system is ready for attack. How to bundle cooperation to maximize your own economic interests is the connotation of multilateral free trade agreements. The RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), which has just been resolved, has laid the foundation for the China-Japan-Korea FTA (Free Trade Agreement) negotiations that have also fought for many years.
High dependence on foreign trade is a common feature of the economies of China, Japan, and South Korea. Like the three major economies in East Asia, differences in the demands of similar interests and industrial structures are obstacles in the way of FTA negotiations between China, Japan and Korea. Analysts believe that under RCEP’s grand platform to lower trade and investment barriers, many of the issues related to the free trade negotiations between China, Japan and Korea have been overcome. In the future, it will focus on exploring new industrial chain relationships and enhancing mutual political trust.
“The will of the three parties to achieve this remains relatively strong, but the different starting points of their respective positions have caused some deep-seated problems to slow the negotiation.” An anonymous Chinese official told Reuters that the negotiations mainly faced internal and external factors from the three parties. The difficulty of coming.
He also presented that, compared to the RCEP, the China-Japan-Korea FTA will further increase the depth of the opening of trade in goods and services.
Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute at the Ministry of Commerce, noted that some of the difficult problems of the China-Japan-Korea FTA can be solved on the RCEP platform. Follow-up requires all three countries to focus on solving the remaining problems. “It is equivalent to the five-story building of China, Japan and South Korea. Now the RCEP elevator has risen to three floors, and there are two floors left to go. This means that subsequent negotiations between the three countries have greatly simplified the content. “.
Liu Mingdi, head of China strategy at UBS Global Research, also emphasized that although China has signed several bilateral trade agreements before, the signing of RCEP is the first time that China, Japan and South Korea appear under the same multilateral trade agreement. In terms of consumption, China has lowered tariffs. It will attract imports in the region.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Leaders Dialogue Meeting held on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech in which he said China will continue to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. , and will negotiate high-level free trade agreements with more countries. Actively participate in multilateral and bilateral regional investment and trade cooperation mechanisms to create a higher level of open economy.
** Explore new industrial chain relationships **
Unlike the trade cooperation of primary products, since China, Japan and South Korea are all developed countries in the manufacturing industry, the relationship of the industrial structure is relatively complicated, involves standard issues, non-price competitiveness, chain industrial, small and medium enterprises and many other aspects. How to look in the competition Cooperation and the exploration of new relationships in the industrial chain are important topics.
With the current increase in labor costs and economic transformation and improvement in China, the value chain of the three countries mainly made up of processing trade in the past is also undergoing subtle changes. The anonymous Chinese official mentioned above said that the China-Japan-Korea FTA will help promote the formation of a new value chain for the three parties. Relations, focusing on the joint maintenance of the security and stability of the supply chain, and promoting the formation of a new mechanism for division and cooperation of the manufacturing industries of the three countries.
Bai Ming believes that in addition to necessary regulatory actions such as tariff reduction and trade facilitation and liberalization, the FTA negotiations between China, Japan and Korea should focus more on common development and focus on how to make the “pie bigger.” bonus “.
“Although peers are said to be enemies, it is more convenient for them to cooperate.” He said similar industries can complement the advantages of others in the industrial chain by subdividing labor. Complementarity can also be vertical, ascending and descending. “
Competition between China, Japan, and South Korea exists primarily in the manufacturing industry, including chemicals and electronics. According to the research report by Shen Wan Hongyuan, the importance of RCEP actually lies in establishing a direct free trade zone relationship between China, Japan and South Korea, especially between China and Japan. Among the main product categories that China exports to Japan, textiles may be the most profitable industrial sector.
Considering that Japan is the most active member of the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement) to organize and ultimately contribute to the signing of the agreement, in addition to China and Japan have established a free agreement relationship Direct trade for the first time within the RCEP framework, the report predicts The importance of China-Japan trade relations in future global trade relations is expected to be further highlighted.
“It is more about the possibility of forming mutual promotion and strengthening a pattern of synergy around all aspects of the manufacturing industry chain, such as commodities, trade in services, investment, research and development. of technology”. The report indicated that the deepening of trade-investment between China and Japan Technology cooperation is of strategic importance for China, where the external environment is becoming increasingly tense, and Japan, where the manufacturing industry faces a hollowing out and the Industrial progress has stalled.
** Completed under mutual political trust **
Political mutual trust remains the most important prerequisite for promoting the China-Japan-Korea FTA. From a practical point of view, although economic and commercial exchanges and personnel exchanges between the three countries have become increasingly close, geopolitical factors have led to complex and intertwined relationships between the three countries. Under pressure from the external environment, the three parties should use economic cooperation to boost comprehensive cooperation and have a positive effect on mutual political trust.
The annual China-Japan-Korea summit has also become an important indicator of the progress of the three-nation FTA. The Eighth China-Japan-Korea Leaders’ Meeting held late last year published the “China-Japan-Korea Cooperation Outlook for the Next Ten Years”, and adopted the “China-Japan-Korea Early Harvest Project List”. X “and other final documents, giving the China-Japan-Korea FTA an optimistic outlook.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that the three sides should cooperate closely and continue to expand their common interests.
The timing of this year’s China-Japan-Korea summit is unknown, but Japan’s Kyodo News recently quoted sources as saying that unless “ appropriate action ” is taken in the Second Division’s forced labor compensation dispute World War with South Korea, Japan can not participate in this year’s briefing. The summit of leaders of China, Japan and South Korea held in the evening.
After the South Korean Supreme Court ruled that a Japanese steel plant must compensate for forced labor in 2018, the relationship between Japan and South Korea deteriorated, and Japan responded by controlling the export of some important high-tech materials.
The China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Area negotiations began in November 2012 and 16 rounds have been held so far. Gao Feng, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said the three sides had a deep exchange of views on the issues of trade in goods, trade in services, investment and regulations and made positive progress. The signing of the RCEP has created favorable conditions to accelerate the negotiation of the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
“China is willing to work with Japan and South Korea to actively overcome the impact of the epidemic, make full use of existing resources, hold consultations and exchanges through various forms, such as video conferencing, conference calling, etc., and accelerate the progress of the China-Japan-Korea free trade agreement negotiations, “Gao said. Strive to achieve substantive results as soon as possible, further improve market access and regulatory standards, and create a “RCEP +” free trade agreement. (End up)
