China eyes more free trade agreements
BEIJING: China plans to step up efforts to expand its global network of high-standard free trade areas in 2024, building on significant accomplishments in negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) over the past year.
Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told a recent press conference that China has already inked 22 FTAs with 29 countries or regions, and the combined trade value with those countries and regions accounted for one-third of China’s total.
In a move to further share China’s opening up of dividends and power regional economic growth, China will enhance efforts regarding FTA negotiations in 2024, according to Wang. “We have a full agenda for FTA negotiations this year,” he said.
Toward a broader FTA network
As negotiations for Version 3.0 of the China-Asean Free Trade Area are scheduled for this week in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Wang has vowed to exert efforts to conclude the talks this year. Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The two parties announced the official launch of the negotiations to upgrade the free trade area to its third version in November
2022, with the negotiations covering fields such as trade in goods, investment, digital and green economy to build a more inclusive, modern, comprehensive and mutually beneficial ChinaAsean FTA.
Experts believe that the upcoming version of the ChinaAsean Free Trade Area would also prompt the upgrade of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
It will be easier for the RCEP to leverage its coordinating and superimposing effects, following the leading example of the ChinaAsean Free Trade Area Version 3.0, said Wang Yiwei, a professor at Renmin University of China.
Apart from Asean, China also aims to complete the FTA negotiations with Honduras and the negotiations involving the FTA upgrade with Peru this year. Advancements will be made in negotiations or upgrades of FTAs with the Gulf Cooperation Council, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland, according to the vice minister.
On a broader scale, Wang Shouwen noted that China will continue its efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement.
In an attempt to align with the CPTPP rules, China has introduced related documents and formulated reform measures to enhance institutional opening up in Shanghai and other eligible regions. “If the practices yield good outcomes, we will replicate them in other regions of China,” Wang Shouwen said.
Toward high-standard openness
In the past year, China committed to a negative-list model of services and investment by signing an FTA with Nicaragua and reaching a protocol to further upgrade the FTA with Singapore.
This marked a historic moment in China’s FTA negotiation history, indicating that the country has reached a new level in advancing its FTA network toward high standards, according to Wang Shouwen.
Commenting on the FTA upgrade protocol with Singapore, Yuan Bo, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, said services and investment are where the growth potentials of the two countries’ future development reside. “These two fields are the common interests of China and Singapore.”
Regarding RCEP cooperation, Yuan believes there is ample room for China to collaborate with RCEP members on consumer goods trade, cross-border e-commerce, service trade and investment, among other spheres.
China’s foreign trade value with 14 RCEP members amounted to 12.6 trillion yuan (about $1.77 trillion) in 2023, a 5.3-percent increase compared with that in 2021 before the agreement came into force, according to Wang Shouwen.
The pact has allowed Chinese trade companies to enjoy 2.36 billion yuan of tariff concessions for products imported from RCEP countries, while enterprises of RCEP countries benefited from 4.05 billion yuan of tax breaks for products imported from China in 2023.
“China is both a beneficiary of and a significant contributor to the enforcement of RCEP,” Yuan said.