On November 15, 2020, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP?) was officially signed during the East Asia Cooperation Leaders’ Series Meetings, giving birth to the world’s most populous, largest member structure and greatest development potential. free trade zone.
RCEP is a regional agreement. Regions are divided into traditional regions and non-traditional regions. The areas covered by RCEP remain traditional. RCEP is ASEAN-centered, and its dialogue partner countries agree and support ASEAN's central position. Non-traditional fields are constructive. Before RCEP, the Pacific Rim Partnership Agreement (CPTPP?) covered non-traditional regions. The CPTPP region includes 11 countries related to the Pacific Basin including East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, North America, Central and South America, and Oceania. The "Brexit" procedures have not been completed. The UK, which is no longer an EU country, wants to join the CPTPP, and the CPTPP member states have not refused.
Where does excellence lie? This is not because the absence of India reduces the complexity of the negotiations, nor is it because if India participates, the negotiations will not be possible and there may be no results. What I'm saying is, RCEP reminds me of Asia-Pacific. We know that economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region began in the 1980s when the Cold War was not yet over. After nearly 40 years of construction, Asia-Pacific economic cooperation has not formed an inclusive "Pacific Economic Circle", and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has not become the only Pacific economic community. However, both CPTPP and RCEP are essentially based on recent developments. 40 years of regional cooperation. The real hero is Asia Pacific. In any case, India's economic ties with the Asia-Pacific are insufficient. India is not an Asia-Pacific country after all. New Delhi voluntarily withdraws from RCEP, once again emphasizing the essence of Asia-Pacific cooperation.
When the APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting was held via video on November 20, we would like to thank the great and sustainable “Asia-Pacific Cooperation”. Without the framework and platform of "Asia-Pacific Cooperation", there may not have been the results of the two major regional cooperations, CPTPP and RCEP. Secondly, an interesting question for researchers may be what is the relationship and interaction between CPTPP and RCEP, and the different futures brought about by the interaction. On November 15, 2020, after 15 real Asia-Pacific countries signed RCEP, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade published the full text of the RCEP agreement (but on the 16th, the full text of the RCEP agreement could not be seen on the website, and it was unclear whether the New Zealand government had deleted it. ). After downloading the full text of the RCEP agreement from the official website of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I spent a day reading the agreement. This agreement has 510 pages (in English) and is very heavy. It is a document that takes a long time to digest.
RCEP negotiations will take several years, especially during the outbreak of the new coronavirus this year, which was deeply affected by international exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region, including contacts between diplomats. We know very little about the text changes of this agreement during the epidemic. Now, people who are interested in RCEP. After reading the comments about RCEP, I think many commentators have not carefully read the full text of the RCEP agreement, or have not read the RCEP agreement itself. It is not enough to be interested in news related to the RCEP signature.
The signature of RCEP may be the first step in a long march of thousands of miles. We know that there are countless agreements reached in ASEAN's own processes and ASEAN-led regional processes, but most of these agreements have not been actually implemented, or have been put into "compliance" and implementation of these agreements, which has always been a problem.