China-ASEAN Free Trade Area

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Description: "Work on a high-speed rail line linking Yangon to China’s Yunnan province, as well as Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, is expected to start within two months, China Daily newspaper reported on November 21. Should the plan come to fruition, the 1920-kilometre (1200 miles) Yunnan-Yangon line will be able to carry trains travelling at up to 240 kilometres an hour (km/h). China scholars told The Hindu newspaper that the lines were part of a wider effort to deepen engagement with its Southeast Asian neighbours, officials said last week. According to Wang Mengshu, a consultant for the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said studies are also being conducted to link Yunnan’s capital – Kunming – with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. In August, the Ministry of Railways also sent a team to Thailand to explore investing in a US$25.6-billion, 240km/h high-speed railway and rail network. Mr Wang, who is a professor with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told The Hindu in an interview earlier this year that construction had already begun on a line connecting Kunming with Singapore. The Southeast Asian network, he said, could be completed as early as 2020. Beijing’s increased infrastructure investment in Southeast Asia, analysts say, is part of a larger effort to expand economic and strategic influence in the region. Beijing hopes the investment will also ease anxieties among its ASEAN neighbours over the impact of China’s rising economic influence. China ratified the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) pact with the regional bloc but in the process has created a fast-widening trade imbalance in its favour, in part fuelled by the flooding of the ASEAN market with Chinese goods. This has led to strains in commercial relationships with many ASEAN countries. The trade deficit grew to $21.6 billion last year. A number of countries have also voiced concern over the pattern of Chinese investments, which have generally targeted resources such as oil and minerals..."
Creator/author: Kyaw Hsu Mon, agencies
Source/publisher: Myanmar Times
2010-11-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: China and Asean have put in place a free trade agreement and a US $10 billion investment fund, but disputes over the Mekong River and the South China Sea remain... "The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has often been sidelined by bilateral dealings between China and Asean member-states. But on Jan. 1, the organization scored a major victory when the free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Asean came into effect. The FTA was a logical follow-up to the facts on the ground: trade between the two sides more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2009, from US $41.6 billion to $213 billion. With the FTA in place, trade between China and Asean is expected to surpass that between the US and Asean by the end of 2012..."
Creator/author: Simon Roughneen
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 8
2010-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: The China-Asean free trade deal is a milestone as Southeast Asian nations test the waters of economic competitiveness... "Almost one-third of the world?s population is covered in the China-Asean Free Trade Area (CAFTA), which came into being on Jan. 1. However, CAFTA is only the third largest free trade zone in the world, after the EU and the North American Free Trade Agreement zone (NAFTA). Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) governments hope that their economies will benefit as businesses get easier access to Chinese markets...Most of the optimism seems to be coming from China, however, as the long-negotiated deal becomes a reality. The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, ran numerous feel-good stories talking up the merits of the new agreement, quoting officials, business people and academics in Asean states in a series of reports outlining the possible benefits of freer trade. With Chinese exports to the US and Europe down and not likely to recover anytime soon, Asean countries offer China more economic opportunity, as the more developed member-states seek to boost domestic consumption...China has at least partly overcome wariness among Asean states about its long-term intentions, while American policy toward the region remains in flux, despite claims that the US is ?back? in Southeast Asia after years of alleged indifference under the Republican administration..."
Creator/author: Simon Roughneen
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 2
2010-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-02-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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