Injecting Strong Power into Regional Economic Integration

On May 5th, there was a surge of people at the first Hunan RCEP Economic and Trade Expo.

Photo by Tian Min

On August 18th, visitors consulted and negotiated at the 3rd RCEP Regional Import Expo.

Photo by Xu Chuanbao

On June 2nd, workers rushed to make overseas orders in the upgraded workshop of Liugong Loader Lighthouse Factory in Liuzhou, Guangxi.

Photo by Li Hanchi

In a mango orchard in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia, orchard manager Bunan is carefully inspecting the growth of mangoes. This orchard produces high-quality mangoes, which are exported to China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea.

Photo by Zhao Yipu, journalist of our newspaper

In the processing plant of Dize Banana Orchard in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia, a huge cleaning pool is filled with freshly picked bananas. These bananas will be shipped to China for sale.

Photo by Zhao Yipu, journalist of our newspaper

On June 8th, the busy container terminal at Nansha Port in Guangzhou.

Photo by Chen Zhiqiang

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement has come into full force for 15 member countries, marking a new stage in the comprehensive implementation of the world's most populous, largest economic and trade scale, and most promising free trade area. RCEP accelerates the process of regional economic integration, promotes economic and trade cooperation and investment growth, and adds a continuous source of power to the sustained recovery and development of the regional economy.

Accumulate opposing forces

Establishing a benchmark for open cooperation

On June 2nd, RCEP officially came into effect for the Philippines, marking the full entry into force of RCEP for 15 member countries. Anna Robinho, Senior Economic Advisor of the ASEAN Secretariat, stated that RCEP provides a good opportunity for member countries to open up and expand their markets, which will effectively promote economic and trade cooperation among member countries.

In 2012, RCEP was officially launched by ASEAN. After 31 rounds of marathon style negotiations and overcoming significant differences in politics, economy, development level, history and culture, the agreement was jointly signed by 10 ASEAN countries along with China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand on November 15, 2020, and officially came into effect on January 1, 2022. RCEP took the lead in officially entering into force for six ASEAN member countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and four non ASEAN member countries including China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. It has since expanded to other member countries such as South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The head of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China stated that the full implementation of RCEP fully reflects the 15 parties' practical support for an open, free, fair, inclusive, and rule-based multilateral trading system, and their joint commitment to continuously promoting comprehensive, mutually beneficial, and high-level economic partnerships. The commitment of 15 parties to open up markets for goods, services, and investment, combined with high-level rules in various fields, greatly promotes the free flow of production factors such as raw materials, products, technology, talent, capital, information, and data within the region, promotes the gradual formation of a more prosperous regional integration market, and promotes larger scale, higher level, and deeper level of open cooperation among member countries.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the International University of Beltai in Cambodia, stated that RCEP supports an open, free, fair, inclusive, and rule-based multilateral trading system, which helps promote the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in regional value chains and production centers. Peter Dresdale, Director of the Institute of East Asian Economics at the National University of Australia, believes that while some major industrial countries are reducing their support for trade openness and the multilateral trading system, RCEP plays an important role in promoting trade openness and inclusiveness, as well as promoting economic and technological cooperation.

Forming a synergy of economic and trade rules

Stimulating regional cooperation vitality

Fresh durians can be transported from Linchaban Port in Thailand to Nansha Port in Guangzhou in just 4 days, and can be placed on the shelves of the largest fruit wholesale market in South China in just 1.5 hours after unloading. In the first five months of this year, Thai durians that have entered the view of Chinese consumers through Nansha Port have exceeded 5700 TEUs. It is reported that in order to meet the requirement of 6-hour release for RCEP fresh and perishable products, Nansha Customs has promoted measures such as early declaration, shipside direct delivery, and intelligent drawing review at Nansha Port, greatly improving the clearance efficiency of fresh goods. In addition, the Nansha Cold Chain Logistics Distribution Center with a total storage capacity of 227000 tons also provides a guarantee for the continuous cooling of fresh goods throughout the entire chain from inspection to storage.

At the large-scale excavator assembly workshop of Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd., workers are intensifying assembly operations. The total amount of imported diesel engines, hydraulic components and other related components by the enterprise each year is about 200 million yuan. After the RCEP takes effect, the average import tariff rate of the enterprise has decreased from 5.4% to 4.8%, which can directly save about 1.2 million yuan in import tariff costs each year. In addition, according to the corresponding tariff preferential policies of the RCEP origin accumulation rules, the company's products can be exported to RCEP member countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia with zero tariffs. In 2022, Guangxi Liugong sold approximately 4500 complete machines to RCEP member countries, with a sales revenue of approximately 1.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 60%.

Openness leads to development, and cooperation leads to win-win outcomes. One vivid example after another confirms the effectiveness of RCEP in stimulating regional cooperation vitality, bringing tangible growth and benefits to member countries and enterprises. According to Olamon, Director of the Trade Negotiation Department of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, RCEP has effectively improved the level of trade liberalization and investment facilitation among member countries, strengthened supply chain resilience, and effectively promoted economic and trade cooperation and regional economic integration among member countries by implementing tariff reductions, simplifying customs procedures, accumulating rules of origin, and providing more transparent and fair trade rules.

Building an open platform for the outside world

Sharing valuable market opportunities

Coffee from Indonesia, nutritious noodles from Malaysia, coconut water from the Philippines, and wine from Australia... In June of this year, at the 2023 RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation High Level Forum Investment and Trade Fair, a dazzling array of member country specialty products were "moved" to the scene, along with display boards and various promotional brochures, to build a convenient platform for negotiating cooperation and "one click ordering". In August, the 7th China South Asia Expo was held in Kunming, Yunnan, achieving full coverage of RCEP member countries; In the same month, the third RCEP Regional Import Expo was held, attracting more than 500 enterprises to explore new opportunities for trade exchanges.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce of China, the total import and export volume between China and other RCEP member countries reached nearly 13 trillion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. China actually utilized approximately $23.5 billion in investment from other RCEP member countries, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%. In the first half of this year, 590 approved Chinese exporters independently issued 4844 RCEP declaration of origin, with a value of 4.34 billion yuan; China has attracted 2739 new foreign-funded enterprises from RCEP member countries, a year-on-year increase of 25.6%. As an important participant in regional economic cooperation, China's high-quality implementation of RCEP and high-level opening up to the outside world have injected new impetus into the development and prosperity of the Asia Pacific and the world, which has become a consensus among people from all walks of life in RCEP member countries.

Aditya Matu, Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific at the World Bank, stated that China is committed to expanding its opening up, opening up markets under the RCEP framework, and promoting meaningful trade relations among all parties, making positive contributions to promoting international trade and global economic growth. Eddie Prio Panbudi, Deputy Minister of Economic Coordination of Indonesia, stated that as the world's second-largest economy with a population of over 1.4 billion, China provides opportunities for other RCEP member countries to enter the vast consumer market. China, as an important global manufacturing and high-tech product production base, will continue to play a crucial role in the RCEP framework.