Integration of free trade agreements in East Asia urged

He said that China should ink a trade pact with South Korea as soon as possible and then conclude its negotiations with Japan and India to build up a comprehensive opening-up scenario.

Sun Yuanjiang, deputy director-general of the commerce ministry's international department, said on Wednesday that China holds an open attitude to the TPP, while the ministry's spokesman Shen Danyang said recently that China will study the possibility of joining the high-standard trade pact.

Stanley Loh Ka Leung, Singapore's ambassador to China, said that China is welcome to participate in the TPP.

"Together, the RCEP and the TPP will cover the entire Asia Pacific region, and will provide mutually reinforcing pathways toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. As the world's second-largest economy and a key link in Asia Pacific's supply chains, China can make an invaluable contribution to regional economic integration by participating actively in both the RCEP and TPP,. " he said.

Sun Zhenyu, head of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies and former Chinese ambassador to the WTO, said that the regional trade pacts, including the TPP, will not be concluded as scheduled because of difficulties and that these regional FTAs will finally be multi-lateralized.

The RCEP is expected to become the largest FTA in the world, covering more than 45 percent of the world's population and one-third of its GDP, while the TPP, when concluded, will cover nearly 40 percent of the global GDP and will go beyond tariff elimination and traditional trade issues to address emerging challenges faced by modern businesses, Loh said.