How should China respond to the TPP?

At the APEC Summit in Honolulu last year, the TPP made a breakthrough. First, the negotiating team expanded rapidly. With Japan, Canada and Mexico announcing their participation in the TPP negotiation, the number of TPP negotiators has now reached 12, more than Half of APEC; the second is that the broad outline of the TPP has also been completed in accordance with the requirements of the United States. As Japan is allowed to join the TPP negotiations, the gross domestic product (GDP) of TPP negotiating countries will account for nearly 40% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and about one-third of total world trade.

There is no doubt that the TPP has had a huge impact on the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation and integration and the East Asian economic integration process. At the same time, it is also influencing China's regional cooperation strategy, economic development strategy, foreign trade and investment strategy, foreign policy In particular, it has a series of shocks and influences on US policy.

Tu Xinquan, deputy dean of the WTO Research Institute at the University of International Business and Economics, told the media that from the perspective of globalization, the integration of the United States in the TPP and TTIP will have a negative impact on the global multilateral trading system.

Zhang Yunling, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the stagnant multilateral process will This will result in the marginalization of the WTO to a certain extent, that is, it cannot lead the process of global opening up.

In China, views on the TPP are widely divided. The most common view is that the TPP is both a major challenge and a huge opportunity for China and its Asia-Pacific regional cooperation strategy. According to the analysis of relevant research institutions, if China is isolated from the TPP negotiation, it will face the following disadvantages:

1. Suffer losses due to trade diversion. Especially after Japan's entry into the TPP, making it a de facto US-Japan FTA, China's exports will be seriously affected;

2. Losing the right to formulate the next generation of trade and investment rules, it will become a passive recipient of the rules;

3. Losing the dominance and right to speak in the development of the Asia-Pacific region, reducing China's international status, and limiting the scope of economic and trade activities to East Asia;

4. Further widening the gap with international economic and trade rules, which is not conducive to the reform of the domestic system , which encourages state-owned monopoly enterprises to "kidnap" the government;

Joining the TPP negotiation will help avoid the loss of trade diversion, expand exports to the United States, Japan and other Asia-Pacific economies, promote domestic economic growth, increase employment, and help political stability; reduce transaction costs for Chinese companies and promote China Enterprises go to the Asia-Pacific market.

In general, the TPP presents more opportunities than challenges to China. my country should not isolate itself, but should join the negotiation in a timely manner and strive for the initiative. Of course, you need to choose a suitable time to join the negotiation.

Whether it joins the TPP or not, China must promote economic and political reforms. The current key issues to be solved are: state-owned enterprises and fair competition, intellectual property protection (online copyright protection), policy transparency, government procurement, investment, regulatory consistency, and so on. Among them, state-owned enterprises are a prominent problem in our country. At present, among the 13 members of the TPP, except for Vietnam, there is no state-owned enterprise problem. Not only is there a huge number of state-owned enterprises in China, but the institutional reform has not yet been completed, making it difficult to adapt to the new situation of regional economic integration in the future.

Labor standards and environmental standards are important topics in the TPP negotiations, and they are also difficult problems. In the future, Chinese enterprises will face the impact of labor standards and environmental standards in their international economic and trade activities. my country is the country with the largest number of laborers in the world. Over the past 30 years of reform and opening up, a huge labor force has supported the largest "world factory". This factory was earned with the blood and sweat of countless workers. However, workers' rights and interests are often not guaranteed. Ultra-low wages, poor working conditions, and forced overtime work make them a vulnerable group in society.

On the other hand, my country's "world factory" operates at the expense of the environment. Needless to say, the growth of my country's international trade is accompanied by the deterioration of the ecological environment, and even overdrafts the health of the next generation. If this situation does not change, not only will my country's trade and economic development be unsustainable, but it will also be subject to pressure or even interference from the international community.

There is no doubt that the development of the international situation requires China to formulate and implement higher labor and environmental standards to bring them into line with international standards. On the other hand, China should also play an active role in the formulation of international labor and environmental standards, reflect its own interests, and strive for the initiative. But the premise is that China will do it first and gain the right to speak. We should regard TPP as an important stage for China to play a role in the formulation of international labor and environmental standards, and as a platform for my country's labor and environmental standards to be in line with international standards.