China-ASEAN reach basic consensus on world's largest free trade area
China-ASEAN reach basic consensus on world's largest free trade area
Agence France-Presse
Beijing
Negotiations on establishing a China-ASEAN free trade area are
set to wind up ahead of schedule next month after the parties
reached a basic consensus that would create the world's biggest
trade zone, state press reported Friday.
China and the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations
were in agreement on a trade arrangement which would cover 1.7
billion consumers with a combined gross domestic product of two
trillion dollars, the China Daily said quoting sources close to
the talks.
ASEAN, which hopes to have its own free trade area beginning
2010 and a European-style single market 10 years later, currently
only has plans in the works with China, South Korea and India.
Agriculture, information and communication technologies, human
resources development, investment and the development of the
Mekong River were identified as priorities for co-operation
between ASEAN and China, the newspaper said.
Observers said the climate for the negotiations was good
although some reservations remain among a number of ASEAN nations
-- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"The technical negotiations are not the biggest block to the
FTA (free trade area), compared to worries about a 'China threat'
in some ASEAN member countries," the newspaper quoted Zhao
Jinping, an official with China's Development Research Center of
the State Council as saying.
China's trade with ASEAN hit a record high US$78.25 billion in
2003, up 42.8 percent from 2002, according to official statistics
from the General Administration of Customs.
China's imports from ASEAN jumped 51.7 percent to $47.33
billion last year while exports grew at a slower pace of 31.1
percent to $30.93 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $16.4
billion.
Despite the increase in trade, Zhao said establishing a free
trade area would be more complex than that of the world's two
other major commercial zone agreements -- the European Union and
the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Asian countries differ significantly in terms of their social
conditions, he said.
Meanwhile, China and Singapore are expected to begin
negotiations on a free trade agreement in November, the city-
state's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said earlier this
month.
Australia and New Zealand are also in bilateral discussions
with China on similar trade links.