RCEP Trade-Zone Talks Imminent in the Asia Pacific Region

RCEP Trade-Zone Talks on a free-trade zone that covers more than 50% of the world’s population involving 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region will soon be underway. This was revealed by a document that was drafted by senior officials and is still subject to change. But it clearly states that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is to become a platform for the integration of trade and investment in Asia and the rest of the world as well. They say that they are looking forward to the deepening of trade agreements that are already in place.

Putting together a stronger pact

The leaders of the members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are getting together in Brunei for a meeting to start things off. The first round of negotiations is targeted to start on the 9th of May. The main objective of this pact is to strengthen ASEAN’s bilateral free-trade agreements. This includes all trading partners and excludes the United States which is initiating a rival agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Asia-Pacific region is all set

The negotiation for the RCEP is scheduled to go ahead even when the atmosphere is rife with conflicts related to arguments with regard to various territorial claims. The seeds for these talks were planted in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. These “potential members” are looking forward to making progress on this initiative and willing to set aside differences for the sake of the talks.

The RCEP includes Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries in Asia and Oceania are home to more than three billion people. These nations when considered together comprise a third of the world’s total economic output.

Trade liberalization

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing region in the world today. The RCEP remains a significant platform in promoting trade liberalization in the region, according to IHS Global Insight chief economist Rajiv Biswas. The significance of this initiative is partly due to the fact that three of the primary drivers of emerging markets in Asia (and the world) are involved.

Existing disputes

Territories in the South China Sea are currently the subject of bitter territorial disputes. Tensions over these claims undergo a sinusoidal waxing and waning, but in recent years, the tensions have reached almost critical levels.

China has been the subject of complaints for increased aggression, and it has been having a row not just with South East Asian countries like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. But the Chinese are also at a stalemate with the country’s close neighbor Japan on the quarrel over islands on the East China Sea. Japan on the other hand also has a dispute with South Korea on a certain chain of small islands located on the Sea of Japan, straining diplomatic relations.

Observers are saying that the disputes on territorial claims are disruptive to the relationships between the countries in the region. And these issues impose a huge risk on the pushing forward of trade links that would benefit everyone concerned.