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Communist China is expected to consolidate its position among the ASEAN states with a massive Beijing-backed trade deal that will lower tariffs and establish common rules for trade, e-commerce and intellectual property rights.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement was signed on November 15 on the last day of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit that Vietnam hosted virtually.
Beijing’s economic influence among the 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) has seen an astronomical increase in recent years.
Most ASEAN nations are already under authoritarian rule where freedom of religion often takes a backseat, as in China.
RCEP participating countries account for 30 percent of the world’s population and gross domestic product, according to a July report by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based research group.
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Preliminary work on the RCEP pact began in 2012 and will become the largest free trade agreement in history despite the notable absence of India and the United States.
The exclusion of Washington will give China, the world’s second-largest economy, the opportunity to establish new trading partners within the region, thereby exporting its cultural imperialism and communist ideology along with products and services.
Experts say that China will use this pact to advance its political interests, a kind of “China first” strategy. Communist ideology and its opposition related to religion and democracy are integral parts of Chinese political interests.
China, which has recorded strong economic growth even during the Covid-19 collapse, is expected to take advantage of its relations with Southeast Asian countries that have contained the coronavirus pandemic to some extent.
Once a free trade zone is established under the RCEP, it will encompass a third of the global economy and China is expected to act as its big brother who makes the decisions.
This will give China free rein to increase its cultural influence in Southeast Asian nations such as Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where democracy is struggling to flourish.
Although the trade deal is the culmination of a decade of China’s quest for further economic integration of the region, its long-term impact will extend beyond trade and may encompass culture and religion as the RCEP is seen as more China-centric.
Due to its absence from the main Asian trade deal, the United States will have to go to great lengths to counter and neutralize China’s ambitions in Asia.
The responsibility now rests with US allies, such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, to act in Washington’s best interest under the “pivot to Asia” policy, initiated by the Obama administration.
Although the United States enjoys a significant advantage in military power and remains a vital economic partner for many Asian nations, Washington is nowhere in the picture in terms of curbing Chinese influence in these Asian nations.
With the signing of the RCEP, China will have access to a partnership covering 2.2 billion people with a combined GDP of more than $ 26 trillion.
Following its past record, China will export its atheistic communist ideology to ASEAN states that have already shown affinity with Chinese communism through their authoritarian regimes.
China has already exerted its influence in these countries with its multi-million dollar Belt and Road initiative covering 138 countries and 30 international organizations.
For the poor nations of Southeast Asia, China is a role model that has lifted more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history.
As the world’s largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods, China accounts for 17.7 percent of the world’s total wealth, behind only the United States at 30 percent.
In 2019, China surpassed the US as home to the world’s largest number of wealthy people, according to a Credit Suisse global wealth report.
With its large population of 1.5 billion, China is courting neighboring nations with its robust domestic economic reforms and collaborative diplomatic strategy. It has already established its superpower status over the United States in the region.
With America’s influence rapidly fading, it has become easy for China to become Asia’s powerhouse.
With the establishment of the largest free trade zone under his initiative, the Chinese dragon is expected to make a lot of noise not only in trade but in the cultural sphere of neighboring Asian countries.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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