China goes on offensive against IPEF

Beijing, May 24: As US President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations, including India, to enhance trade, economic and investment opportunities, China, which sees the pact as a threat to its dominance in the region, went on the offensive against it, promising more opening up, while the official media here termed it as “economic Nato”.

On the eve of the Quad summit in Tokyo, Biden on Monday launched the ambitious Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), which is an initiative aimed at deeper cooperation among like-minded countries in areas such as clean energy, supply-chain resilience and digital trade.

The IPEF is expected to send across a signal that the US is focused on pushing forward a strong economic policy for the region to counter China’s aggressive strategy on trade in the region. The countries joining at the launch of the US-led initiative are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The US-led trade deal has already caused consternation in Beijing as its Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the same day offered more higher cooperation to the Indo-Pacific region

with better Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects and investments.

Addressing the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) through a video link around the same time the IPEF was launched on Monday, Wang said “the Asia-Pacific region is where China lives and thrives”. “China will continue to focus on the Asia-Pacific for its benefit and make

greater contributions to its lasting peace and sustainable development with concrete actions,” he said.

Without naming IPEF, Wang said Beijing will advance China’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement to counter the new trade and economic initiative of the Quad.

CHINA’S FM Wang Yi will visit Solomon Islands this week in what the South Pacific nation’s leader said was a “milestone” in his country’s relationship with Beijing, amid concerns over their security pact that could allow Chinese military personnel on the islands.