Asia-Pacific nations sign world’s biggest trade pact

[bits4books]

Let me remind you that we have already passed this once-the USSR and sympathizers VS Europe+USA+sympathizers.
As you can see, this story did not last long.
A closer example is the European Union, which 28 years later is already bursting at the seams.
Yes, such an agreement will create a separate economic zone (quite pleasant) for the next 30-50 years, but it simply will not live beyond that. People don't know how to live in peace, and China is famous for its Imperial ambitions. For the time being, he will hide them, but as soon as even a hint of some deeper truth comes to the surface, the same thing will begin as with EU.
But again, I don't think this is bad news, no matter how bad anyone feels about China. Simply because this is a place for new and great opportunities and in the near future there will be space not only for classic business, but also for crypto projects and cryptocurrencies. We can even assume that it is within this zone that the active spread of cryptocurrency will begin.

We can even assume that it is within this zone that the active spread of cryptocurrency as a LEGAL means of payment will begin - and not as a thing with an incomprehensible status and in the gray zone.

[Lucius]

• China and its allies will impose low tariffs on trade with no corona lockdowns (economic advantage)
• While USA, EU and much of the world impose corona lockdowns trading with higher tariffs (economic disadvantage)

Its a recipe which could alter the political economic landscape of the world significantly. Although not quite as black and white as it may appear on the surface.

Some would see a very nice conspiracy theory in this, because the virus as we know came from China which is now almost virus free as some of the countries in this pact. While on the other hand, Europe is going through very difficult days under the impact of the second wave, and it is to be expected that it will very likely hit the US full harder than it is now.

This whole situation shows that China and some other countries in Asia have one major advantage, and that is that they have much more effective methods to overcome such challenges (pandemics) than is the case with EU or US residents. All this, of course, is connected with the political system and human freedoms in the West, where, despite the dangers and warnings, a part of the population wants to live as before - and thus spreads the virus everywhere. It is a very simple answer to all those who wonder why some countries have beaten the virus, while others do not see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[emmybd]

Trade agreements in Asia Pacific countries benefit countries there especially Southeast Asia. Here there are potential economies such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore ... they are developing strongly in fields from food, food, consumer goods, high technology. This is a region with high solidarity when ASEAN has peacefully, stably settled regional issues and has effective economic cooperation for many years. I am confident that their cooperation with the major economies will motivate developing regions of the world to learn to prosper like these nations.

Many Asia Pacific countries had go slow policy for some time about this deal. As Trump is voted out, so they hurriedly signed this deal with China. This deal will enormously benefit Southeast Asian countries and also grow ever-increasing influence of China in these countries. It will certainly be a cause of concern for both United States and European Union. Unfortunately, India has missed out, but the door is still open for India to return later.

[Febo]

..., and China is famous for its Imperial ambitions.

Not sure where you studied history but your teachers seems to be very bad. China was fro most time in last 4000 years most powerful country in the world but was never imperialistic. For them there was China and the rest of the world. The rest were foreigners and they should come to China, not China should come to foreign countries. This was and still is Chinese philosophy.

[Ozero]

The free trade alliance that China has made with 14 countries is indeed a common thing, China will continue to build other economic alliances with many countries in order to continue to develop its power in the economic field.  In fact, we all know that only China is capable of printing state revenue up to double digits.  China also controls trade in the world so this policy will continue to have an impact on China's power itself.  When viewed for the other 14 countries, this policy is a challenge, because they must be able to compete with Chinese goods themselves.

It seems that this agreement with fourteen neighboring countries on free trade is just very successful for China on the eve of the release of its digitized yuan.  Most likely, it is the digitized yuan that will become the main currency for settlements in this Asia-Pacific region.  This will contribute to the growth of China's economic power and enhance the role of the region as a whole.  It will also strengthen China's position in its trade struggle with the United States.

[oHnK]

the powerful country will benefit more. This looks grand and truly beneficial from a distance. It may not necessarily be the case on the ground.

I couldn't agree more, This is the other side that is often ignored by the media, as if the form of a trade cooperation agreement entered into by the government must be good news even though this is not always the case.  How many forms of cooperation carried out by China have increasingly given power to its country while in other countries involved it has become a challenge or even a disaster.  Very cheap Chinese goods flooded the markets of other countries and the domestic market was devastated by it.  So this cooperation will only give more power for China to become the country with the largest economy in the world.

[dothebeats]

What bothers me in this pact is that China seems like it's trying to create its own 'sphere' wherein they could easily implement something and others would freely trust it because, well, they belong to the same pact. Kinda like what Japan envisioned during WW2, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which promised 'co-prosperity' and 'peace' along those within the network. Only this time, China acts as a passive, free-trading entity sans the aggression (?) imposed on other members. I just hope though that this does not develop further into an EU-like structure that is crumbling by the day. It's good on paper, although on practice it's a different story.

[Tahsin Kabir Kollol]

This is an important step for the treaty countries and it will increase trade and commerce between the treaty countries and enable faster delivery of goods and services to the people of the country. As duty-free trade increases imports and exports between countries, it will be possible to resolve trade wars in foreign trade. As a result, people living in these countries will be able to import and export their essential goods at a relatively low price and easily. On the other hand, China has achieved diplomatic success as a result of increasing trade relations with 14 other countries.

[wxa7115]

China and 14 other countries have agreed to form the world’s largest free trade bloc, encompassing nearly a third of all economic activity.  Without USA, EU or Russia.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/11/15/rcep-15-asia-pacific-nations-set-worlds-biggest-trade-pact

One third of worlds economy can work on their own by itself. If we add influence they have over Africa, this is by far strongest free trade bloc that will be almost impossible to challenge in the future. 

This is a really interesting development, the United States for the most part has been able to manipulate other countries by the use of their own economy knowing that they could pressure them into submission and force them to do whatever they wanted because they had the power of the economy on their side, but with the creation of this trade pact China and many other countries are going to have a way to respond and to resist those advancements by the United States.

It seems that slowly but surely we are getting out of a world in which there was only one superpower and now there is two, I just hope that this not ends up becoming similar to what happened between the United States and Russia because I'm not so sure the world could withstand a cold war as it did in the past.

[AndySt]

What bothers me in this pact is that China seems like it's trying to create its own 'sphere' wherein they could easily implement something and others would freely trust it because, well, they belong to the same pact. Kinda like what Japan envisioned during WW2, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which promised 'co-prosperity' and 'peace' along those within the network. Only this time, China acts as a passive, free-trading entity sans the aggression (?) imposed on other members. I just hope though that this does not develop further into an EU-like structure that is crumbling by the day. It's good on paper, although on practice it's a different story.

I am not sure that this can develop into a political plane, like the European Union, if only because the signatories have a lot of contradictions in political issues. To a certain extent, this is a trade victory for China and a guarantee of continued economic growth, along with continued growth in trade turnover in the region, when the United States of America is trying to isolate its economy from Chinese goods and Chinese capital by staging trade wars.

[sheenshane]

If it is for the betterment of every country that will join in this open trade agreement then no questions at all.  Like the European Union that brings solidarity to its members this open trade agreement can be the start of a stronger economy for its members.  However, it may seem to be for the good of every member but it could also lead to the fall of a few because countries that have a strong economy may eat the weak ones and soon gain full control over the economy of the others only IMO.

[manfredmann]

Without the big or key players in the trade that can dominate the system, this biggest trade would be the most exciting part of all the nations who participated to it. There is also no need for other big countries to participate so that this trade pact can get along with and played fairly without getting intimidated by other or get influence with big countries like USA. However, China shouldn't be part of that pact. They can take advantage on other countries as well.

[Shasha80]

This is good news for economic progress in Asian countries, especially Asean countries, which are lagging behind in their economies.
Asian countries must unite to create free trade to improve product quality and expand employment. And in the long run, it is expected
to compete with Europe and America in the economy.

[bits4books]

..., and China is famous for its Imperial ambitions.

Not sure where you studied history but your teachers seems to be very bad. China was fro most time in last 4000 years most powerful country in the world but was never imperialistic. For them there was China and the rest of the world. The rest were foreigners and they should come to China, not China should come to foreign countries. This was and still is Chinese philosophy.

I'm not talking about China that was once upon a time, 2-3-4 thousand years ago, but modern, familiar to all of us China.
His incredible investment in Africa, his constant problems with Singapore and the remnants of dislike for Britain as such, his unwillingness to put up with the US as a world leader, and so on and so on.
If earlier China was the place where all the roads of Asia converged , now China can be called the place where all the roads to this Asia start. Starting anything in China and having a share of luck and a good business plan - you can immediately jump to the entire Asian market, and then India. And you don't even need some EU or US, Russia or someone else-this market is more than enough.
If this is not really an Imperial scale, within which it is impossible to stop China (let's be honest, it is), then I have questions for you, and not for my history teachers.

[Lorence.xD]

Sounds like great news! Free trade is good for everyone and trade pacts like this lower tariffs and keep the cost of goods cheaper for consumers. The negative impacts could be for producers in specific industries as lowering barriers to imports increase competition in a country, but while this may be a challenge for a few producers it's a win for the population at large.

It has been a dream of many Asian nations, since the Imperial Japanese' Sphere of Influence and Asia for Asians, this finally come true. Although it is still in an infantile stage hopefully this can alleviate in the growing prices of products. I do not think that it will be a problem for producers because aside the increase in competitors, the market they can sell to is larger.

[el kaka22]

When you do not believe that you would benefit from a trade deal, you do not have to do it to begin with. If Africa thinks they can't compete with European products and when European products go to Africa and may destroy the market, then don't do it? There must be something in return of these pacts and I believe it is not just about bigger nation working to beat the smaller nation, I believe it is smaller nation having a chance to find a market in the bigger nation as well.

Comparing this to the fact that African nations currencies do not have the same value as Euro has, African companies can sell something for 1 euro whereas in Europe it is 10 euro, because in Europe it costs 2 euro to make it whereas in Africa it costs 10 cents to make it. Hence I still think both parties could find something they can benefit from.

[FanEagle]

I have always known that Japan would eventually join rest of the world on this as well, Japan became a very expensive nation in the recent years, not so much for people who live and work there but for everyone else and that makes trading very difficult for them.

For the Europeans and Americans to understand, let me explain it this way, assume you are making 1 million dollars a year and that is the average yearly income in your nation, but you are spending about a million dollars a year as well, that is your countries situation, could you afford to sell apples for 1 dollars?

You would have to sell it for 20 dollars, and package each apple individually, and if you are living like that and have no financial problem, you are still having problem selling something to other nations right? Because they get 1 kg of apple for 5 dollars where as you sell it for 1 apple 20 dollar basis. With this trade deal maybe Japan can finally lower their prices as well.

[Harlot]

I have a strong feeling that this trade pact between these countries have been triggered by the pandemic. Seeing how this agreement has been pending for 8 years and then suddenly when the pandemic is here all of the countries have agreed to a trade pact. This will be of course about focusing on rebuilding their economy much faster with their exports and people will be taking advantage of it in all industry especially in the agricultural industry which I see is deeply affected in some countries part of the pact.

[amishmanish]

..., and China is famous for its Imperial ambitions.

Not sure where you studied history but your teachers seems to be very bad. China was fro most time in last 4000 years most powerful country in the world but was never imperialistic. For them there was China and the rest of the world. The rest were foreigners and they should come to China, not China should come to foreign countries. This was and still is Chinese philosophy.

For much of its history, China was busy with the infighting and consolidating itself as a country. By the time it all fell into place, the wave of imperialism from the wide world had already begun. The non-imperialist history of China isn't due to some philosophical stance but due to the circumstances. It has only been around a decade that China has truly had the capacity to actually have economic and millitary influence outside its own borders. Within that time, it has shown enough aggression and unfounded claims for the world to realize that what exactly China wants. Saying that China is some sort of a peaceful country is stupid.

As far as this trade agreement is concerned, it is essentially uniting much of the ASEAN and the major export-oriented developed countries in the rest of Pacific. What is does is to remove a great deal of worry about one of the two strategic waterways for China, namely the Strait of Malacca. The only other bottleneck remaining after this for the Chinese is the Strait of Homruz through which a significant parts of its oil supplies flow. If anybody thinks that China is doing these things for trade and not for strategic influence will be in for a rude shock as the Chinese gradually give shape to their long term plan of strangleholding these smaller nations. This is the reason that India was had to opt out of RCEP.

[Dorodha]

The agreement aims to reduce tariffs open up trade in services and promote investment to help emerging economies keep in touch with other countries in the world. In particular allowing each RCEP member country to export products anywhere in the block will help reduce costs and time for companies. But going from a least developed to a developed country soon will not be able to enjoy all these benefits. On the contrary the formation of this new alliance is expected to lead to tough competition with Vietnam in other areas including garment exports.