The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) must remain steadfast in upholding multilateralism and counter rising challenges such as trade protectionism and reciprocal tariffs announced by the United States, said China Institute for Reform and Development (CIRD) president Chi Fulin.
In an article published in China Daily recently, Chi stressed the importance of maintaining multilateralism through RCEP, especially amid increasing global trade tensions.
“RCEP is a very dynamic free trade area. As the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA), it accounts for one-third of global economic output, trade value, population, and foreign investment,” he said.
According to Chi, from 2010 to 2023, member economies recorded an average annual GDP growth of 4.5%, which was 1.7 percentage points higher than the global average. He noted that ASEAN nations, a key driver within the agreement, saw their total trade-to-GDP ratio rise from 84% to 93% between 2016 and 2023.
“This demonstrates that maintaining a stable free trade order is decisive for the growth of ASEAN and RCEP economies,” Chi remarked.
The RCEP, signed in November 2020, brings together the 10 ASEAN countries — Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — along with five key trading partners: Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand. The agreement officially came into force for Malaysia on 18 March 2022.
Chi highlighted that the RCEP is projected to contribute an additional 4.47 percentage points to ASEAN’s GDP growth by 2035. He also stressed the need to enhance economic and trade cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to further strengthen regional economic integration.
“Regional economies should work together to build RCEP into a higher-level partnership,” he said.
Chi further noted that China, Japan, and South Korea — which account for over 80% of RCEP’s total economic output — must deepen trilateral cooperation, especially in the services sector, to unlock up to US$1.4 trillion in new market opportunities.
He advocated for accelerating the transition from country-specific to unified tariff concessions and shifting from ‘partial cumulation’ to ‘full cumulation’ of rules of origin to facilitate more integrated regional supply chains.
Additionally, Chi called for greater institutional strengthening within RCEP, including the establishment of a permanent secretariat and a dedicated dispute settlement committee to ensure smoother operations and dispute resolutions.
— BERNAMA
