An Overview of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Abstract

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a recently established Free Trade Agreement between Asia-Pacific countries with the goal of increasing trade between participating countries. A total of twenty Chapters, seventeen Annexes, and fifty-four schedules of obligations are included in the agreement between its partners, with legal features correlating to the explorations of its interactions with member countries. RCEP established an integrated market with 15 member countries, which has facilitated the mobility of products and services among them. It aims to negotiate on trade in products and services, investment, intellectual property, dispute settlement, e-commerce, small and medium-sized firms, and economic cooperation. Currently, it is the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of economic impact, and it has the potential to promote trade and integration among member countries. The objectives of this chapter are to evaluate the opportunities and challenges RCEP faces. We focus primarily on secondary data gathered from scholarly journals and formal reports. RCEP has the potential to expand economic growth among the participating countries. However, one of the challenges that needs to be considered is that some countries may be in a less advantageous position, as the agreements made might affect their internal economic development. We argue that despite the numerous advantages of the Partnership, all members must be able to address the four major issues identified in this chapter if they were to benefit fully from the RCEP.

Mega FTAs and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in the Asia Pacific Region: Will It Be Cooperation or Competition?

“…However, its economic size declined rapidly after the U.S.' withdrawal in 2017. The CPTPP's position in the world population, GDP, and trade volume accounted for 6.7%, 12.8%, and 14.9%, respectively, in 2020 [Francois, Elsig, 2021;WITS, n.d.;World Bank, n.d.c] (Figure 5).…”

“…The Japanese share of GDP was overwhelming at 46.7% (as was the Chinese share in RCEP). However, the share of the CPTPP in global GDP shrank dramatically due to the U.S.' withdrawal [Francois, Elsig, 2021;Torrey, 2018;World Bank, n.d.a, 2022] (Figures 5 and 6). The U.S. has recognized the Indo-Pacific region as vital to its security and prosperity since its arrival in the region in 1850.…”

“…This means that Korea and Japan, in RCEP and the CPTPP, face risks from China based on the interruption of the GSCs due to sudden lockdowns in several production facilities (as during the pandemic) and artificial production control on key resources such as rare earth products, lithium, magnesium, and tungsten, due to the China-U.S. rivalry for high-tech hegemony and GSCs in the Asia-Pacific region. In that case, Korea may be more exposed than Japan because Korea's economic and trade dependency on China is higher than Japan's [Francois, Elsig, 2021;Lee, 2020] (Figure 8). The Korean industry in terms of intermediate products is more dependent on Chinese industry than Japanese and U.S. industries.…”

“…Therefore, its economic impact on the Asia and Pacific region was significant. In a negative economic environment, RCEP was able to increase its global GDP share from 29% in 2014 to 31.9% in 2018 (before it declined slightly to 30.7% in 2020) despite the Indian withdrawal, while the global GDP share of the CPTPP shrank radically from 38% in 2014 to 15% in 2020 due to the U.S. withdrawal [Francois, Elsig, 2021;World Bank, n.d.c].…”

Study on the Development Path of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and ASEAN Cross-Border E-Commerce Under the RCEP Framework

“…At the same time, under the framework of RCEP [2], the development of cross-border e-commerce in the Greater Bay Area and ASEAN countries also faces a series of challenges. How to grasp the new opportunities and challenges brought by RCEP has become an urgent issue to be solved [3][4][5].…”