China’ Free Trade Agreement with Asean -- an Overview
1. Introduction
Nearly 8 years have passed since Premier Zhu RongJi brought up the idea to establish a China-ASEAN free trade area in 2001. Now that the original idea is being turned into reality with the signing of Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation, ATIG 2004,ATIS 2007 and ADSM. And the Parties are making great efforts to the negotiation of investment agreement to ensure the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade area in 2010. The CAFTA will be the first free trade area that China establishes with a foreign market. The largest FTA made of developing countries will also be CAFTA with an area measure of 14,000,000 Square kilometers, an estimated population of 2 billion (1.8 billion now), and a possible total regional GDP of about US 3,000 billion$ to US 4,000 billion$. The total trade will also increase by a dramatic speed. The ACFTA will be another important FTA after EU and NAFTA.
2. Framework agreement
Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China, 5 November 2002 (“Framework Agreement”)
Framework Agreement is the legal foundation of the ACFTA, and it determines the basic framework of ACFTA. Its main contents are: 1. the content of ACFTA includes trade in goods, trade in services, investment and economical cooperation in which trade in goods are the core elements. Besides some sensitive products (explained in the ATIG next page), tariffs and trade barriers will be eliminated gradually. 2. Timeframes of the arrangement of negotiations and the establishment steps of ACFTA.3. Early Harvest Program 4.China will give those ASEAN countries which are not members of WTO most-favored nation treatment 5.Setting up the related mechanisms and regulations. Specially, the Early Harvest Program is an integral part of the ACFTA to accelerate the implementation of the ACFTA by reducing and eliminating tariff rates of more than 500 kinds of products ( major part of them are
Nearly 8 years have passed since Premier Zhu RongJi brought up the idea to establish a China-ASEAN free trade area in 2001. Now that the original idea is being turned into reality with the signing of Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation, ATIG 2004,ATIS 2007 and ADSM. And the Parties are making great efforts to the negotiation of investment agreement to ensure the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade area in 2010. The CAFTA will be the first free trade area that China establishes with a foreign market. The largest FTA made of developing countries will also be CAFTA with an area measure of 14,000,000 Square kilometers, an estimated population of 2 billion (1.8 billion now), and a possible total regional GDP of about US 3,000 billion$ to US 4,000 billion$. The total trade will also increase by a dramatic speed. The ACFTA will be another important FTA after EU and NAFTA.
2. Framework agreement
Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-Operation between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China, 5 November 2002 (“Framework Agreement”)
Framework Agreement is the legal foundation of the ACFTA, and it determines the basic framework of ACFTA. Its main contents are: 1. the content of ACFTA includes trade in goods, trade in services, investment and economical cooperation in which trade in goods are the core elements. Besides some sensitive products (explained in the ATIG next page), tariffs and trade barriers will be eliminated gradually. 2. Timeframes of the arrangement of negotiations and the establishment steps of ACFTA.3. Early Harvest Program 4.China will give those ASEAN countries which are not members of WTO most-favored nation treatment 5.Setting up the related mechanisms and regulations. Specially, the Early Harvest Program is an integral part of the ACFTA to accelerate the implementation of the ACFTA by reducing and eliminating tariff rates of more than 500 kinds of products ( major part of them are