Textile Industry Has Become One Of The Industries Most Affected By RCEP Agreement

On April 15, China formally deposited the approval letter of regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP) with ASEAN, marking that China has officially completed the approval process of RCEP, and has become the first non ASEAN member state to formally complete the approval process. At present, China is vigorously promoting the technical preparation of RCEP implementation to ensure the full implementation of its obligations when the agreement comes into force.

What impact does RCEP bring to China's industrial development and foreign trade pattern? In an interview with economic daily, relevant experts pointed out that the formal implementation of RCEP will make domestic industries face a more intense market competition environment, but in the long run, it will help to form new industrial development advantages at a higher level.

Help dredge domestic and international markets

In November 2020, 15 RCEP Member States formally signed the agreement. Since then, the impact of the agreement on trade, investment and economic development among Member States has become the focus of attention. According to the research on RCEP by the United Nations Conference on Trade and development, RCEP will bring more than 10% export growth to 15 member countries by 2025. According to the calculation of Peterson Institute of international economics, the total national income of RCEP member countries will increase by 186 billion US dollars by 2030, and the annual total export is expected to increase by 519 billion US dollars.

"For China, RCEP will provide strong support for China to build a new development pattern." Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Commerce and deputy representative of international trade negotiations, pointed out not long ago that RCEP, through opening up trade and investment, will help China smooth regional industrial chain and supply chain, and better connect two domestic and international markets and resources; It will help to smooth the domestic big cycle, promote the domestic and international dual cycle, and promote China to speed up the construction of a new development pattern. Wang Shouwen said that RCEP will help China's economy to move forward to an advanced industrial level, improve the quality standards of Chinese products, promote industrial upgrading and promote the high-quality development of China's economy.

"As a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, RCEP agreement covers market access and rules, and will have a systematic and comprehensive impact on China's domestic industries." Yuan Bo, deputy director of the Asian Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with the Economic Daily that, with the mutual opening up of goods, services and investment fields with RCEP members, China will introduce higher standard rules in the fields of competition policy, intellectual property rights and transparency.

Experts believe that while optimizing the business environment, facilitating the investment layout of enterprises and benefiting from opening up, domestic industries will face a fairer and fiercer market competition environment. However, in the long run, such competition will also help promote the optimization and upgrading of domestic industrial structure and form new industrial development advantages at a higher level.

Yuan Bo stressed that higher standards of intellectual property protection rules will help China to introduce high-quality foreign investment and further develop knowledge intensive high-tech industries; The introduction of uniform e-commerce rules in RCEP region for the first time will also help China's e-commerce and digital economy related industries to expand the market of RCEP member countries, and promote regional industries to accelerate the digital transformation.

Rules of origin promote the optimization of regional production factors

The rule of origin accumulation is widely regarded as the most brilliant achievement of RCEP in the field of goods trade. According to the rules of origin accumulation, the original materials of other RCEP members can be accumulated to meet the origin standard of 40% value-added of final export products, so as to enjoy preferential tariff more easily. Jiang Feng, director of the Department of tariff collection and administration of the General Administration of customs, pointed out that "compared with bilateral free trade agreements, the RCEP cumulative rules with 15 contracting parties will further reduce the threshold for products to obtain tariff concessions and be more conducive to expanding product exports".

"In the past, the accumulation of origin was more existing in bilateral free trade agreements, while accumulation and sale only existed between agreement countries." Shen Minghui, director of the emerging economies Research Office of the Asia Pacific and Global Strategy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told our reporter that the value components involved in 15 economies can be accumulated. Correspondingly, there are more choices of original materials, and the value-added standard is easier to meet.

Shen Minghui believes that according to the rules of origin of value-added, enterprises can choose more raw materials and accumulate more conveniently, especially the labor-intensive assembly and processing industry will benefit first. From the perspective of value chain, manufacturers of intermediate products such as semi-finished products and parts may further benefit, especially in countries with production advantages, such as China, Japan and South Korea, which have related industrial advantages in electronic semi-finished products and parts. In addition, the upstream and downstream enterprises in the value chain, which are conducive to promoting the optimal allocation of production factors in the whole region and serving the local final consumption, are expected to receive further investment attention.

Yuan Bo believed that the cumulative rules of origin regions are conducive to multinational companies in ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea (10 + 3) regions, relying on the resource endowment and market advantages of various countries, to adjust the layout of industrial chain supply chain more flexibly and achieve efficient allocation of factor resources in the region, which will also promote the trade and investment of intermediate products in the region, and promote the formation of closer and closer cooperation Stable and competitive regional industrial chain division and cooperation system. At the same time, it will enhance the global investment attraction of the "10 + 3" region as a whole, especially further promote the investment layout of electronic information, mechanical equipment, petrochemical, textile and clothing, automobile and other industries in the "10 + 3" region, forming a relatively complete division of labor pattern covering the upstream and downstream industries.

Yuan Bo stressed that the rules of origin region accumulation may also promote the further transfer of labor-intensive industries or production links to ASEAN countries with lower land and labor costs, thus speeding up the reconstruction of regional industrial chain supply chain, which will bring certain competitive pressure to China's central and western regions.

Promote international economic and trade rules on the level of elevation

After RCEP comes into effect, nearly 30% of China's exports can achieve zero tariff treatment, which will bring opportunities to China's foreign investment and service export. Wang Shouwen pointed out that this will also promote China's benchmarking of international high-level economic and trade rules, accelerate institutional opening-up, and promote the construction of a new system of a higher level of open economy.

In Shen Minghui's view, RCEP will have a more profound impact on domestic trade and investment——

First of all, China's competitive advantage of the industry, the advantage will be more obvious, will also promote the relatively weak competitiveness of the industry spontaneous transformation and upgrading. Within the region based on 15 countries, China's position as the regional center of the industrial chain supply chain is expected to be further consolidated, especially as the regional production center of intermediate products such as semi-finished products, parts and components serving the regional internal market.

Secondly, RCEP has a rich impact on different industries. Textile, clothing, light industry, building materials, electronic equipment, agricultural products and other industries are expected to benefit further. The competitive pressure of auto parts, steel and petrochemical industries may be greater, but it will also promote the upgrading of related industries and improve production efficiency.

Not only that, but also the opening up of service trade has been improved accordingly. In terms of service sectors, China's accession to the WTO has promised 100 departments. After the signing of RCEP, 22 new sub departments have been added, including R & D, management consulting, manufacturing related services, air transportation, etc. At the same time, the commitment level of 37 departments, including finance, law, construction and shipping, has been raised. In the next stage, trade in services is undoubtedly a new growth point, and the sustainable development of regional economy is expected to gain new impetus from the opening of service trade.

In addition, China's position as a regional consumer market has further improved. With the opening up, Chinese consumers can get more choices of high-quality imported goods and services. The mismatch between demand and supply in the consumer sector is also expected to improve. China's position as an indispensable global consumer market is expected to be further consolidated. At the same time, it also provides a broad market for the products of RCEP member countries, which is an important international public product provided by China for the region.

"In the process of signing and entering into force of RCEP, China has also explored many new trade rules and further opened up the market, including business environment and market access opportunities. There is no doubt that foreign investment is expected to further flow into China in the future. " Shen Minghui said.