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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


Ministry hails ’remarkable’ gains from FTA with Switzerland
Up to 99.7 percent of Chinese exports to Switzerland will receive zero tariffs after the FTA becomes effective, Assistant Minister of Commerce Yu Jianhua said
China, Switzerland sign MOU on concluding FTA talks
China and Switzerland here on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on concluding negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
Rival trade pacts could converge
Separate multiparty free-trade talks in Asia backed by China and the United States are generally seen as a rivalry between the world’s two biggest economies, but some experts say the agreements could prove complementary and ultimately converge.
Sino-Gulf FTA ’may be signed this year’
A free trade agreement between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council may be concluded this year, the United Arab Emirate’s ambassador to China said.
Iceland to sign FTA with China
Iceland will become the first European country to sign free trade agreement with China next week, according to Prime Minister of Iceland Johanna Sigurdardottir who kicked off her visit to Beijing on Friday.
Joining TPP best answer for worries of further US encirclement
It is easy to perceive why China is highly apprehensive at the thought of Japan joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This move fits into a complex pattern that has fed China’s paranoia about being encircled.
Long line for big free-trade club
What is behind the current eagerness to sign free-trade agreements considering that the European Union and the United States also have their own behemoth in sight and what does China have to gain or lose from them?
New hospital in Shenzhen fails to impress Cepa critics
Critics of Hong Kong’s free-trade deal with the mainland maintained their reservations about the scheme as the first wholly Hong Kong-owned hospital in Shenzhen opened yesterday.
HK’s 1st European FTA to enter into force
The Free Trade Agreement between Hong Kong and the Member States of the European Free Trade Association, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, will soon enter into force, a spokesman of Hong Kong’s government announced Friday.
Abbott’s Chinese dance
Tony Abbott’s speech in China is interesting on a number of levels. Since May, the Opposition leader has been executing a positive pivot on the Asian Century. This transition has left Mr Abbott more comfortable conceptually than he was last October about a bilateral free trade deal between Canberra and Beijing.

    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