Abstract
This chapter examines how China’s free trade agreements (FTAs) and Asia's FTA network more broadly provide challenges and opportunities for EU trade policy in the region. Trade relations in Asia are shaped first by geopolitics, namely the rise of China and its ‘assertiveness’ in pursuing projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Analysis of trade links between the EU and China shows that EU countries’ imports of Chinese goods outstrips EU exports to China. In institution-building, the EU and China's FTAs use much of the same language in drafting their trade agreements; however, EU agreements cover more issue areas and with stronger legal obligations than do China's agreements. Moving forward, the most important challenges for EU trade policy in Asia will be to ensure market access for European firms navigating the two mega-FTAs, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Among the EU's FTA partners, Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam are pivotal as members of both mega-FTAs. Finally, the successful conclusion of the EU-China Investment Treaty further challenges the EU to balance the pursuit of its economic interests with its broader strategic relationship with the United States.
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Notes
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Regions are defined in terms of the United Nations Geoscheme, available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/.
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Figure 2.2 reports log-transformed values of the frequency and average levels of hostile events involving China.
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The Action plan on the Belt and Road Initiative was issued in March 2015 by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, with State Council authorization. The full text can be found at http://english.www.gov.cn/archive/publications/2015/03/30/content281475080249035.htm.
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European Union External Action Service (18 September 2018).
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Data were obtained from the UN Comtrade and the International Monetary Funds Direction of Trade Statistics (IMF DOTS) databases: https://comtrade.un.org/ and https://data.imf.org/?sk=9D6028D4-F14A-464C-A2F2-59B2CD424B85.
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For an analysis of the RCEP’s likely impact on investment in the Asia-Pacific region, see Chaisse and Pomfret (2019).
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Financial Times, 31 December 2021.
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Kim, S.Y. (2022). The Politics of FTAs in Asia: The Role of China and Implications for EU Trade Policy. In: Adriaensen, J., Postnikov, E. (eds) A Geo-Economic Turn in Trade Policy?. The European Union in International Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81281-2_2
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