China-ASEAN FTA at hand China Knowledge / July 24, 2007
An FTA agreement is in the pipeline for China and Southeast Asian countries as both parties trash out final details of the deal, according to a senior ASEAN official.
Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations said that the group is fast gaining traction in securing a "China-ASEAN free trade area".
If successful, the China-ASEAN free trade area, comprising of China, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will be one of the largest free trade areas in the world.
Plans for an FTA with China had first taken root five years ago with the envisioning of a joint cooperation creating a market catering to about 1.8 billion consumers - 25% of the world's population - with trade amounting to US$2 trillion.
Since then, countries have been working towards reducing trade tariffs while knotty discussions on easing trade restrictions for finance and other service industries were in the works.
Without going into the specifics, Ong said that some services have yet to be resolved. He expressed hope that negotiations encompassing all investments between the China and ASEAN would be wrapped up by the end of the year.
Chinese manufacturers regard ASEAN as an important market as well as a venue that is abundant in energy, rubber, and raw materials.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN witnessed a year a year-on-year increase of 23.1% to US$129.91 billion during the first 10 months last year. Trade volume with ASEAN contributed to almost 9.1% of China's foreign trade.
Based on such robust figures, there have been speculations of trade surpassing US$200 billion a year by 2008, two years before the stipulated date of the establishment of the free trade area in 2010.
China and Asean had previously signed a Trade in Services of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in January following the 10th China-ASEAN Summit in Cebu.
