The bad and good economic aspects of TPP for China

Also, despite being only a regional agreement now, the TPP could expand to even cover a larger part of the entire world if it functions well. So China has no option but to evaluate the extent to which the TPP can be compatible with the existing WTO rules.

Moreover, by expediting the global industrial shift, the TPP can directly affect the reconstruction of the global industrial chain. The global industrial shift is the result of the new international division of labor, which saw the transfer of manufacturing industries from the developed to the developing countries.

Given these facts, China should evaluate the TPP's influence on the industrial shift from China to other regions (although some industrial shift may take place even without the pact), because the shift is also an opportunity for China to upgrade its industries and improve its competitiveness.

The TPP can also be seen as a result of the new pattern of the international capital flow - for example, some industries are re-shifting to developed countries, and economies' positions in global trade and investment are gradually changing. Aspects such as environmental protection, labor, intellectual property, reform of government-funded enterprises, and trade in services, technologies and agricultural products in the TPP are actually aimed at making new trade rules and raising the threshold of trading standards. And since some of these standards are in accordance with the aims and demands of China's deepening reform and opening-up, they could boost China's economic growth and social development.

In addition, to rule out the possibility of the TPP posing a real threat to the Chinese economy, Beijing should consider taking part in negotiations so that when the TPP rules are finally established, they do not hamper China's pursuit of sustainable economic development.

The author is a researcher with the National Academy of Economics Strategy.