RCEP creates new impetus to China-ASEAN cooperation: Singaporean scholar
The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has injected new momentum into the economic and trade cooperation between ASEAN and China, a Singaporean scholar told Xinhua News Agency.
Singapore (VNA) – The signing of the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP) has injected new momentum into the economic andtrade cooperation between ASEAN and China, a Singaporean scholar told XinhuaNews Agency.
The Chinese news agency quoted Yu Hong, a senior research fellow of the EastAsian Institute of the National University of Singapore, as saying that theeconomic and trade cooperation between ASEAN member states and China remainsstrong despite the impacts of COVID-19. He believed that the collaboration willbe boosted by the signing of RCEP, the world’s largest trade deal so far. In the first three quarters of 2020, thetwo-way trade volume topped 481.8 billion USD, making ASEAN the largest tradepartners of China.
“This has demonstrated the resilience of China-ASEAN economic and trade ties,as well as the huge potential of economic and trade cooperation between the twosides”, Yu was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Yu pointed out that ASEAN and China are highly complementary in theirindustries, and enjoy huge potential for cooperation in the fields ofinfrastructure, digital economy, manufacturing upgrading, and trade inservices.
The signing of RCEP will help ASEAN countries with advantageous naturalresources and labor forces to undertake the transfers of manufacturingindustries, so as to accelerate their industrialisation processes, he said.
Therefore, ASEAN countries will better integrate into the regional and globalindustrial chains, and strengthen regional economic integration, he added.
According to Yu, RCEP hasinjected "strong impetus" for Chinese and ASEAN companies to copewith the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling them more access to the markets in theregion.
Yu said ASEAN countries,being optimistic about China's economic prospects and the businessopportunities given its vast market, will play an increasingly important rolein China's economic and trade relations./.
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A port in Jiangsu province of China (Photo: VNA) 
