Chinese tout Asia trade pact
PTT fuel to power up PAPA’s new business
CHINESE President Xi Jinping vowed to strengthen world trade in the face of US president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to pull out of a key trans-Pacific accord.
Speaking on a visit to Chile on Tuesday, he vowed to “push to build an Asia-Pacific freetrade zone and an open world economy”.
Trump on Monday vowed to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP) trade pact on his first day in the White House.
A vast, arduously negotiated agreement between 12 countries that does not include China, the TPP is the economic plank of outgoing US President Barack Obama’s strategic rebalance to Asia, and the US’s departure from the pact would render it toothless.
Analysts say the move could give Beijing – which backs the alternative Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – an opportunity to forge ahead with its own trade deals and fill a vacuum left by any American withdrawal.
RCEP talks were pressing ahead, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, adding: “Now, we hope that such negotiations can achieve early results.”
RCEP brings together the 10 members of the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, but excludes the US.
Something of a mirror image to TPP, it includes six of the Washington-led grouping’s 12 members and would encompass more than 3 billion people.
RCEP is generally thought of as less ambitious on things like employment and environmental protection.
China hoped that trade agreements would “reinforce each other rather than undercut each other”, Geng said.
Shanghai University of International Business and Economics professor Bin Jiancheng said that an American withdrawal from the TPP would “give China some opportunities and time to promote economic integration in Asia, including RCEP” and to expand its influence.
He noted that the Asian giant’s major role in global commerce – it is the world’s biggest trader in goods – would protect it from being isolated or threatened by the TPP, whether or not the US took part.
But it would still be hard to overtake the US’s prominent global position.
“Even if the US really does not go through with TPP it will still use other methods to maintain its leading role, and its ability to set rules in the Asia-Pacific region,” Bin said.
Biggest copper producer
In a Chinese-language editorial Tuesday, Communist party mouthpiece the People’s Daily said China-US relations were “too big to fail”.
It stressed the “special re- sponsibilities” that the pair had as the world’s two largest economies.
“It’s not difficult to foresee that China-US cooperation can bring huge benefits to both countries and the world, but if there is constantly friction between them or even confrontations, it will bring disaster” to all, it added.
Meanwhile, on the last stop of a tour to strengthen trade ties in Latin America, Xi said he and Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet agreed to join in a “full strategic relationship”.
They expanded their countries’ existing free trade agree- ment and signed 12 cooperation agreements.
“To drive the long-term development of bilateral ties, we have decided to enhance our bilateral relations to a strategic relationship and open a new page in ties between Chine and Chile,” Xi told a news conference.
Chile is the world’s biggest copper producer and the second-largest producer of salmon. China is its biggest trade partner, receiving a quarter of all Chilean exports last year.
Xi, meanwhile, also signed 18 new agreements with Peru on Monday. PAPA Petroleum, the fledgling fuel distribution business of timber baron Try Pheap, has signed a fuel purchase agreement with PTT Global Chemical Plc, a subsidiary of Thai state-owned PTT, the company announced in a Facebook post yesterday.
Bin Many Mialia, marketing division manager for PTT (Cambodia) Ltd, said he was aware of the agreement, but did not know the details.
“I know that it was signed last week in Bangkok, but I do not know the specifics of the deal as it does not concern PTT Cambodia,” he said.
Representatives for Try Pheap Group declined to discuss the agreement when reached by phone yesterday.
However, the head of distribution for PAPA Petroleum, who did not wish to provide his full name, confirmed that the agreement was signed and would support the company’s operations.
“With this agreement we will be able to distribute fuel to Phnom Penh and across the country,” explained Vuthy.
He declined, however, to explain why the previous fuel purchase agreement with Thaibased supplier AEC Energy Co Ltd signed in February fell through.
PAPA Petroleum registered with the Ministry of Commerce in 2015. The company claims it is authorised to distribute petroleum nationwide, and recently showed off a fleet of more than a dozen Chinese tanker trucks.
Dith Tina, secretary of state for the Ministry of Mines and E n e r g y, c o n f i r med t h a t the ministry licensed PAPA Petroleum in February to build fuel storage depots in two provinces.
“PAPA Petroleum has a license to import and stock petroleum products in Pursat and Preah Vihear provinces,” he said.
However, while PAPA Petroleum lists four active retail stations on its company website, with publically available photos of construction for retail operations in Pursat and Bantey Meanchey provinces, Tina said the company does not yet have a retail licence.
“The ministr y has not received any request from PAPA Petroleum to operate gas stations,” he said.