The early fruits of faster free trade

China Daily, Asia News Network, Beijing

To fulfill their commitments to the establishment of a China- ASEAN free-trade area, China and Thailand are set to sign a tariff reduction agreement in Beijing today.

The package to be signed under the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will impose a zero tariff on the trade in fruit and vegetables between China and Thailand, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), from Oct. 1 this year. It will spearhead the full implementation of the proposed China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.

The Sino-Thai drive to achieve early trade liberalization unequivocally testifies to both countries' resolve to seek common development and prosperity through enhanced economic and trade ties. This joint effort also marks a much-needed step forward in expediting construction of a promising free-trade area between China and ASEAN.

It was in November 2001 when leaders from China and ASEAN decided to set up a China-ASEAN Free Trade Area over the coming 10 years. The sheer size of the market of 1.8 billion people, the largest market of its kind in the world, could underline its very importance to the world economy.

Amid a global slowdown, trade between China and ASEAN continued to surge in 2002, jumping 31.8 percent to a high of US$54.8 billion.

Such robust trade growth gave much credit to optimism on the trade prospects between China and ASEAN, respectively the sixth and fifth largest trade partners of each other.

The dynamics of Asian economies justify the great expectation in the potential of this looming trade bloc involving products worth almost $2 trillion and trade totaling $1.2 trillion. More encouraging is that China-ASEAN economic and trade ties have hit the fast lane since both sides devoted themselves to the great plan.

China's rapid economic development and its entry into the World Trade Organization made it a huge potential market for ASEAN products. However, difficulties in translating the plan into a reality also cannot be ignored.

To meet the challenges of embarking towards a free-trade zone, all participants still need to overcome the fact they are at different stages of development. Trade liberalization means much more than tariff cuts and removal of non-tariff barriers. A full free-trade area covers trade in goods and services as well as investments. Besides high-level talks, a business council, and joint committees for economic, trade, science and technology co- operation, intensified bilateral exchanges require co-ordination on non-traditional security issues too.

A grand plan like the China-ASEAN free-trade area demands concrete and continuous steps to speed up the rate at which existing trade liberalization commitments are implemented.

The Sino-Thai tariff cuts on the fruit and vegetable trade, though not accounting for so heavy a share in bilateral trade, delivers a push to the pursuit of the shared regional goal.

Instead of over-ambitious declarations to free up all trade, such an approach of tackling easy things first as China and Thailand have adopted is more realistic and thus efficient in demonstrating the benefits of free trade.

Efforts to establish a China-ASEAN free-trade zone are important and of far-sighted significance for it will not only help scale up bilateral economic and trade exchanges and boost common economic development, but also enhance the existing friendly relations among countries involved.