Study on the Prospects for the Development of China, Japan and Korea Economic and Trade Cooperation under RCEP

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, global trade and economic activities have been severely harmed, and changes in the global economic and trade landscape have accelerated. The dramatic reduction in global trade volumes and the development of global industrial chains have been hampered and even partially disrupted, leading to a new wave of “deglobalisation”. Against this backdrop, the signing of RCEP, the largest FTA in the Asia-Pacific region, demonstrates the region’s confidence and determination to uphold the multilateral trading system, build an open economy, promote the Asia-Pacific integration process, and stabilize the global economy. For a long time, China’s economic trade and interests have been tightly intertwined with those of Japan and Korea. By 2020, the combined GDP of the East Asian economic circle represented by China, Japan, and Korea will have surpassed that of the United States, and the global economic center will be shifting to Asia. The RCEP, the first FTA signed by China, Japan, and Korea, creates new opportunities for trade cooperation, industrial chain optimization, and FTA construction in the three countries, but it also increases competition among the three. However, it also introduces potential issues for the three countries, such as the impact on related industries following the opening up and international currency competition. As the world undergoes an unprecedented change in a century, the three countries should strengthen multilateral trade cooperation under the RCEP framework, follow the trend of global economic integration, and contribute to the global economy’s sustainable and healthy development.