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The View | RCEP allows East Asia to step out from under US hegemony
- With the world’s largest free trade deal close to being ratified by all members, East Asia is taking a significant step towards greater economic integration
- The deal underscores the US’ waning influence in a region increasingly defined by a rising China
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At this year’s China-Asean Expo in Nanning, leaders of Chinese trade bodies expressed the same optimistic view that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which came into force in January, is likely to be ratified by all member states by the end of the year.
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The mega free-trade agreement, brought into effect in the midst of a global pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty, has launched a new chapter of geoeconomics in East Asia.
The RCEP is emblematic of the decline of the United States’ economic clout in East Asia and the reinvigoration of regional multilateralism. Despite the US’ continued engagement with players in the region, they have been purposefully security-focused, failing to solidify economic partnerships.
With the rise of China and its active push for regional economic integration through the RCEP and Asean Plus Three, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the US conceptualisation of East Asia – a region it has taken for granted since the end of the WWII – is being challenged.
The region has always been strategic to US hegemony; not only does Washington maintain a forward military presence there, but it has sought to keep East Asia open to and deeply integrated with the Western-led global economy by opposing the formation of any exclusive regional blocs.
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The RCEP, on the contrary, promotes regional economic cooperation and the common interests of member states. Certainly, its integration level is lower than other free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and its effectiveness remains to be assessed.
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