ISDS Case Map
China
The senate on September 20 unanimously passed (38-0) two draft laws authorising the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and the bilateral Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA).
The government aims to sign mini-Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with other provinces in China following strengthened partnerships from the first FTA with Hainan province in late August.
China's entry to the CPTPP trade pact will not be easy, requiring the agreement of all existing members, including countries experiencing strained ties with Beijing such as Canada and Australia.
Beijing has applied to join an Asia-Pacific trade pact once pushed by the U.S. as a way to isolate China and solidify American dominance in the region.
Countries that have signed on to the East Asia-spanning RCEP trade deal are going full speed ahead with plans to implement it on Jan. 1, 2022, despite foot-dragging by a majority, with China and ASEAN especially keen, for their own reasons, on seeing the pact come into force soon.
Uruguay and China will begin negotiations to seek a bilateral free trade agreement, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou announced, an issue that has generated risks within Mercosur.
A long-awaited trade deal with South Korea may be signed next month, according to the country’s ambassador to Cambodia.
The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a report that urged the EU to begin work on a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan.
African leaders still have incentives to maintain the partnership between the two continents, not least because of the trade links and development assistance Europe offers. But they also have a strong interest in revising that relationship.
Wang pledged to support Hong Kong in joining “as soon as possible” the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s biggest free-trade deal covering China and 14 other nations in the Asia-Pacific region.
