China, Southeast Asia and ASEAN
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China and the ASEAN bloc of Southeast Asian nations signed an upgrade to their free trade agreement on Tuesday, with leaders hailing the deal which spans the digital and green economy, and other new industries.
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China pitches itself as alternative to US protectionism after signing expanded ASEAN free trade pact
China has signed an expanded free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Premier Li Qiang has promoted economic ties with Beijing as an alternative to U.S. protectionist policies.
Beijing is hoping to use an expanded free trade deal to portray itself as the bloc’s alternative to the United States.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on Friday with counterparts from China and India, beginning a series of face-to-face meetings at an ASEAN defence summit in Malaysia, as Washington seeks to boost regional security ties.
Diverging pressures from the United States and China at the ASEAN summit have led some member states to fear that the era of hedging is over.
The announcement came after China’s Premier Li Qiang called on his Asian counterparts to “uphold free trade and the multilateral trading system.”
The free trade area covers a combined market of more than 2 billion people, lowers tariffs on goods, and boosts flows of services and investment.View on euronews
NEW DELHI, India — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke to Chinese and Indian officials at the ASEAN defense summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, vowing to continue strong American engagement in the region. In a post on X, he said he met with the Chinese National Defense Minister Adm. Dong Jun.
China boosts Asian trade diplomacy at Malaysia summit as US tariffs persist, using RCEP to expand influence amid resource and maritime tensions.
Welcome to Foreign Policy ’s Southeast Asia Brief.
It’s the second upgrade of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) that was first inked in 2002 - making it then China’s first free trade agreement and ASEAN’s first with a major external partner. It then came into effect in 2010, with negotiations for the first upgrade starting in September 2014 and coming into force since 2019.
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