In Bangkok, the annual summit meeting of the Southeast Asian Community (ASEAN) has started today. Summit host Thailand intends above all to end the negotiations on one of the largest free trade areas in the world.
In addition, the two-day meeting on the South China Sea Isles will include the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar and plastic waste in the sea.
Counterweight to TTP?
The RCEP is expected to involve the ten ASEAN states of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The agreement was originally intended as a counterweight to the TPP Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement, which the US had withdrawn shortly after President Donald Trump took office. The negotiations on RCEP were recently stalled. India fears being flooded with cheap products from China, Australia and New Zealand are insisting on environmental and occupational safety standards.
