RCEP and Overlapping Free Trade Areas in the Asia Pacific Region
The ASEAN plus free trade areas network with ASEAN as the axis and the plus one free trade agreement as the spoke is a prominent feature of the current overlapping free trade areas in the Asia Pacific region.However,the arrangement of overlapping free trade areas will cause the fragmentation and complexity of economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific region.As an advanced giant free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region,RCEP can effectively cover multiple bilateral and multilateral free trade arrangements at the top-level design,and effectively reduce the risks of fragmentation and complexity of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region through three major paths:institutional integration and rule alignment,political mutual trust and mutual learning among civilizations,and economic reshaping and enhanced discourse power.Promote the integration of overlapping free trade areas in the Asia-Pacific region and achieve higher quality regional economic integration.In the near,medium,and long term,China should deeply participate in the RCEP and other regional economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific,fonn a deeper pattern of opening-up,and provide growth impetus for the construction of overlapping free trade areas in the Asia-Pacific region.
RCEPOverlapping FTAsRegional Economic CooperationAsia-pacific Regional Economic IntegrationStrategy of China