RCEP enhances regional co-operation, thwarts US interference

By Dennis Etler

A screen grab taken from Vietnam Host Broadcaster's November 15, 2020 live video shows China's Premier Li Keqiang (L) clapping as Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan (R) holds up the agreement during the signing ceremony for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact at the ASEAN summit that is being held online in Hanoi. (AFP photo)

The genesis of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) can be traced back to the late 1990s when discussions by ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, South Korea) and later ASEAN+6 (with the addition of Australia, New Zealand and India) were initiated to develop a regional free trade association. Non-regional participants, such as the US, were never envisioned to be part of it. The Western take on the RCEP, however, focuses on the exclusion of the US from its ranks.

The benefits of the RCEP for the development of the economies of the participating countries were well understood. It took nearly a decade for the final agreement to be reached. China's participation, as the largest and most influential economy in the region is obviously a linchpin for it to be successful and it solidifies the combination of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia as the economic fulcrum of 21st century geoeconomics.

Although the RCEP is basically a regional compact it is complementary to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), reinforcing it with comprehensive and detailed rules on tariffs, investments, trade in services as well as e-commerce. It also serves to promote ongoing negotiations between China, South Korea and Japan over enhanced economic integration, and as a model that can be extended to Central Asia and Eastern Europe through the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and other regional free trade associations emerging in the global south such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Mercosur in South America.

Although the RCEP is an economic pact it will contribute to the resolution of ongoing geopolitical tensions between its members. This all goes counter to the US desire to isolate China and pit the countries of Asia against each other. The US "Asian Pivot" and the scuttled Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were meant to tie ASEAN, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific rim countries of the America's into the US corporate economy.  The US withdrawal from the pact, due to internal US political considerations, passed the baton onto Asia with China as its epicenter by default.

In short, the RCEP was not meant to exclude the US nor was it “designed" by China. It is an Asian-wide agreement, initiated by ASEAN and debated since 2012 among equals including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and China. It was not initiated to facilitate China’s “geopolitical ambitions” as the Western media insists. It is, however, a natural companion to China’s role as the main trading partner of ASEAN and the other parties to the agreement.

The US attempt to isolate and shift supply chains away from China, drive a wedge between China and its Asian trading partners and decouple it from the global economy is a fool's errand that is doomed to failure and will only redound to its own detriment.

Massive free trade deal worries USA, boosts arch rival China’s economy

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Dennis Etler is an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. He’s a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. He recorded this article for Press TV website.