China pushes RCEP regional pact amid US trade war, Japan-Korea spat
- China hosts meeting of trade ministers in Beijing to push a regional trade pact
- Prospects of agreeing on a free trade deal by 16 countries remain uncertain
Trade ministers from more than a dozen countries will be in Beijing this weekend in the latest push to form the world’s largest trading bloc, but China’s hopes for a deal by the end of this year are clouded with multiple uncertainties.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) meeting on Friday and Saturday between ministers from China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 Asean member states follows 10 days of closed-door working level discussions among 700 delegates in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan.
Taken together, the 16 countries negotiating the RCEP account for about one-third of global GDP and almost half the world’s population. It is unknown whether the ministers will reach any kind of agreement or issue a joint statement after their weekend discussions.
The latest RCEP talks will begin under the cloud of the sharp escalation in China’s trade fight with the US, which announced on Friday it would levy a 10 per cent tariff on US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods from September 1.
The outlook for the meeting is also likely to be affected by the growing trade spat between Japan and South Korea, over reparations for wartime forced labour, which saw a clash between Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha at a regional meeting in Bangkok on Sunday.