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  1. Negotiations

China

China actively seeks bilateral trade and investment deals outside of the World Trade Organisation. The government has put priority on forging agreements with neighbouring countries of Asia, but also many other countries on whom it relies for minerals, energy, food, infrastructure or geopolitical support.

Beijing has signed bilateral trade agreements with ASEAN (2002), Hong Kong (2002), Macau (2003), Thailand (2003), Niger (2005), Chile (2006), Pakistan (2006), New Zealand (2008), Peru (2008), Singapore (2008), Costa Rica (2010), Taiwan (2010), Switzerland (2013), Iceland (2014), Australia (2015), Korea (2015), Georgia (2017), Maldives (2017) and the Eurasian Economic Union (2018). China is also a party to 127 bilateral investment treaties.

China is currently in bilateral negotiations with the European Union (investment), the Gulf Cooperation Council, Israel, Mauritius, Moldova, New Zealand (to upgrade the current agreement), Norway, Pakistan (upgrade), Singapore (upgrade), the Southern African Customs Union and Sri Lanka, as well as with Japan and Korea for a possible a three-way deal. Further down the horizon, there is talk of eventual negotiations with Canada, Chile (upgrade), Colombia, Fiji, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Palestine, Panama, Peru (upgrade), Switzerland (upgrade) and Uruguay.

Regionally, China has proposed a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, an initiative that would encompass the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations, in direct rivalry with US-led projects like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But that intitiative is currently on hold.

China is currently part of the talks on a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). RCEP is a mega-regional trade agreement proposed by the Association of South East Asian Nations with its FTA partners : China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

If concluded, it would give Chinese corporations market access to India — in goods, services and investment — that it does not have through its own FTAs.

China also sees RCEP as a key element of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an infrastructure project meant to link Asia with Europe, passing through Africa, and with an extension to Latin America.

China is also using the BRI to push more countries to sign free trade agreements to consolidate the trade and investment leverage that the project opens up.

last update: June 2018
photo: Eddie / CC BY-ND 2.0

The ’Indo-Pacific Strategy’ emerges as a counter to China’s ’One Belt, One Road’
26-Feb-2018 Taiwan News
A Japanese official speaking in Washington discussed conditions for Japan’s participation in China’s BRI project, while also suggesting China seek a partner role in the emerging ’Indo-Pacific Strategy’.
Belt and Road road corridors put half of Myanmar’s population at risk
22-Feb-2018 Myanmar Times
The Belt and Road Initiative puts Myanmar’s natural capital and the lives and livelihoods of 24 million people - half of the country’s population - at risk, according to a report from World Wide Fund for Nature in Myanmar.
China’s Brics-Plus partnership could transform global trade
22-Feb-2018 Independent
There may be a backlash against globalisation in much of the West, but the club of big emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (Brics) is becoming the glue for new inter-regional trade alliances.
Hong Kong gold exchange seeks to create gold trading corridor along Belt and Road
20-Feb-2018 South China Morning Post
The Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society (CGSE), Hong Kong’s gold exchange, is in talks with Singapore, Myanmar and Dubai to establish a gold commodity corridor to promote yuan-denominated products under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to its president Haywood Cheung Tak-hay.
A four-nation alliance may be rising to counter China’s Belt and Road
19-Feb-2018 CNBC
Four countries — the US, Japan, India and Australia — could join forces to set up an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing’s growing influence, the Australian Financial Review reported Sunday.
Myanmar road corridors threaten land and livelihoods
13-Feb-2018 China Dialogue
Up to half of Myanmar’s population live in areas that could suffer environmental damage from two giant highways unless the ecological risks are considered, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund. The planned roads will form part of China’s continent-crossing network of overseas infrastructure known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Belt and road initiative: Ominously, Chinese investment in South Asia target control of natural resources
12-Feb-2018 Financial Express
Economic corridors have hardly been as controversial as China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI). It could have avoided controversies if it had proceeded in a consultative fashion like multi-country cross-border corridors.
Beijing plans new mechanism for Belt and Road arbitration
8-Feb-2018 Asia Times
In a proactive move, China has plans under way to provide its own arbitration in any future commercial issues or disputes between the Belt and Road countries. The 68 countries and regions included in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) not only vary in economic strength but also require a stable trade environment with adequate legal safeguards.
The rise of China and the fall of the ‘Free Trade’ myth
8-Feb-2018 The New York Times Magazine
China’s economic success lays bare an uncomfortable historical truth: No one who preaches ‘free trade’ really practices it.
Costa Rica seeks to strengthen links with China
7-Feb-2018 Shine
Costa Rica aims to strengthen e-commerce links with China and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative to enhance bilateral trade and investment.

    Links

  • Belt and Road Initiative and human rights
    FIDH’s webpage that aims to collect and share information regarding the human rights and environmental impacts of China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects in recipient countries across Asia.
  • China FTA Network
    Official website on China’s FTAs, maintained by MOFCOM