Magic of RCEP: Tasty Japanese food in China at lower price

A friend of mine, a connoisseur of Japanese cuisine, has been very happy in recent weeks. Asked why, he gave me an answer that instantly enlightened me on how international trade developments translate to benefits for individual consumers.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, which was signed in November 2020 by 15 Asia-Pacific countries, has formed direct free trade relations between China and Japan for the first time.

The RCEP has already taken effect in China, Japan and nine other member countries, including New Zealand, South Korea and Cambodia. It has created tariff concessions or abolished tariffs altogether on many goods traded between China and Japan, including some water products, processed foods and sake.

My friend is now looking forward to buying his favorite foods, foodstuffs and ingredients at lower prices. What's more, he is certain his choices will widen considerably.

The RCEP has created the world's largest free trade bloc. Its agreement is designed to remove both tariff and non-tariff barriers on trade and investment.

Its implementation is a milestone in the creation of a unified regional market to accelerate regional economic integration, marked by the liberalization of production factors and investment flows within the region, to unleash huge economic growth potentials.

What reform and opening-up did to the Chinese economy－the policy created "miracle-like" growth over the past decades－the RCEP is expected to do to its signatory members to some extent.

Many economists said they believe the goal of opening-up is to reduce costs so that production factors could flow freely and facilitate transactions through regulatory reforms and institutional adjustments.

China's opening-up not only gave rise to more growth impetus to its economy but also made great contributions to world economic growth. By incorporating China's resources into the world economy and expanding market access for foreign investors, the nation's opening-up helped enhance the use of global resources and improved the operational efficiency of the global economy. Now, higher-level opening-up will continue to create similar benefits.

Despite rising protectionism and the anti-globalization sentiment, continuous opening-up is an important hallmark of China's economic policy.

The nation has pledged to open itself up wider to the rest of the world, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and steadily expand institutional opening-up in areas like rules, regulations and standards. There is no doubt among the comity of nations about China's sincerity and commitment to continuously expand opening-up.

As reflected by the continuous downsizing of the negative list for foreign investment and its signing of free trade agreements with an increasing number of economies, China is stepping up its opening-up efforts, and more market opportunities and development dividends of the nation will be shared with the rest of the world.

All this could mean that just like my friend, consumers in Japan and elsewhere will likely be able to buy their favorite Chinese foods and other products locally at lower prices and be spoiled for choice.