china and asean accelerate free trade area upgrade
2024-10-04
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
reference news network reported on october 3according to a report on the hong kong south china morning post website on october 1, after china and asean said they were pushing to complete negotiations on upgrading the free trade area, analysts said the two sides were expected to further strengthen e-commerce and supply chain cooperation.
asean secretary-general gao jinhong said at a high-end dialogue held in china recently that he is "actively working hard" with china to promote the upgrade of the china-asean free trade area.
state media cited relevant speeches by chinese vice premier ding xuexiang, saying that they would promote the negotiation of version 3.0 of the china-asean free trade area to be "completed as soon as possible."
media previously reported that negotiations on the upgrade of the free trade area will begin in november 2022, with the goal of completing the negotiations within this year.
gao jinhong said version 3.0 of the free trade zone will cover "major trends of our time" such as the digital economy and environmental protection.
one of the backdrops to the upgrade of the more than decade-old free trade zone is that chinese entrepreneurs are seeking to sell and purchase more goods in non-western countries to avoid the impact of the trade war.
jonathan lavelas, general manager of manila-based consultancy e-commerce management and market services, believes the revision of provisions on the digital economy is likely to involve the transfer of e-commerce and its supporting technology.
zhu zhiqun, a political science professor at bucknell university in the united states, said: "for china, economic cooperation with asean is crucial when dealing with tense relations with the west, led by the united states. asean countries usually do not want to be dragged into a confrontation between major powers. , they value their long-term relationship with china.”
e-commerce between asean and china is already vibrant. southeast asian consumers are highly dependent on chinese-made homewares and consumer electronics.
wu yishan, chief consultant of the malaysian pacific research center, said that southeast asian countries are happy to see people using chinese e-commerce platforms more, but at the same time, local sellers also hope to play a greater role.
"we need to make overall arrangements so that our merchants, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, can use these platforms to sell more products to china," hu yishan said.
in his speech, ding xuexiang also said that china is willing to build a more stable and smooth cross-border industrial chain and supply chain.
southeast asian companies are also "particularly" interested in expanding their supplier networks in china, hsbc said in a research note in november.
asean secretary-general ko kim hong said another aspect of upgrading the free trade area will involve "sustainability". e-commerce management and marketing services company's lavelas believes that "sustainability" will mean promoting green technologies to deal with environmental challenges.
zhu zhiqun of bucknell university said that strengthening trade in china's electric vehicles and their parts is likely to be part of the upgraded negotiations, because the two sides may expand cooperation in electric vehicles and lithium batteries. (compiled by lin zhaohui)
