As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, China’s commitment to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has remained steadfast. With the deal formally signed in November 2020, Chinese cities are now ramping up their efforts to leverage the RCEP trade push, expected to sustain their momentum in economic recovery and growth. In this article, we will delve into the latest developments in Chinese cities as they navigate their roles in the RCEP and the potential impacts of the trade agreement on China’s domestic and international trade landscape.
China plans to increase the use of its railway links to ports in order to boost exports to other economies in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This will help to sustain China’s foreign trade growth throughout 2023.
Inland provinces such as Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Hubei have been exploring various options to improve their exports and make them more sustainable. Cities in these provinces have been keen to establish transportation linkages to ports in Shanghai and coastal provinces. They have relied on existing railroad networks to transship their products to other RCEP markets.
Cities such as Nanchang in Jiangxi Province and Guiyang in Guizhou Province have already been operating freight train services to export goods to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Their railway containers are reloaded at ports like Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province and Qinzhou in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for the ocean voyage.
Since January 2022, the RCEP has spurred trade among its signatory countries. As a result, Huaihua in Hunan Province has been operating Huaihua-Laos and Huaihua-Vietnam cargo train services as well as weekly Huaihua-Beibu Gulf Port rail-sea combined transport operations. These have effectively boosted the exports of China’s central provinces to other RCEP countries. Li Chunqiu, the city’s mayor, stated that in January 2023, the city operated 27 cross-border cargo services to export 1,356 containers with 104.27 million yuan ($15.13 million) worth of products like consumer goods, toys, outdoor products, apparel, and furniture to member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On the return leg, such services also brought in rice, coffee, tea, industrial materials and other agricultural products from the trading partners.
China’s trade with ASEAN, the country’s largest trade partner, surged 9.6 percent year-on-year to 951.93 billion yuan in the first two months of this year, accounting for 15.4 percent of the country’s total. Its trade with other RCEP members also rose 3.1 percent on a yearly basis, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
The Premier of China, Li Qiang, stated in a news conference in Beijing on Monday that China will further expand opening up this year in alignment with high-standard international trade rules. China aims to open its door wider to the world with a better business environment and services.
The RCEP may serve as a key growth driver for China, as demand for goods in many countries softens. The RCEP represents a significant step toward greater regional integration and cooperation, said Jiang Ruiping, a professor of economics at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. Even though the RCEP is not a panacea for economic challenges, it has the potential to inject a much-needed impetus into the global economy that has been facing multiple pressures ranging from waning global demand to geoeconomic shocks.
After opening a shipping route to Vietnam last year, Taizhou Port in Zhejiang Province launched a shipping route to Japan on Monday. This will help local exporters better expand their presence in other RCEP markets, according to information released by Hangzhou Customs.
