China: Champion of (Which) Globalisation?

Alessia Amighini

• Publisher: Ledizioni
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9788867057900
• eBook ISBN: 9788867057917
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reforms and opening up. In four decades, China has learned how to grasp the benefits of globalisation and has become a world economic champion. As the world's second-largest economy, today China is no longer the factory of the world but an industrial power aiming at the forefront of major high-tech sectors, in direct competition with Europe and the US. In sharp contrast with Trump's scepticism on multilateralism, President Xi has renewed his commitment to growing an open global economy. But what does globalisation with Chinese characteristic look like? Is Beijing offering more risks or more opportunities to both mature and emerging economies? To what extent is China willing to comply with international rules and standards? Is Beijing trying to set its own global rules and institutions? Is the world destined to a new model of economic globalisation detached from political and cultural openness?

2. Free Trade with Chinese Characteristics

Shannon Tiezzi

With the emergence of “America First” protectionism in the United States, China under Xi Jinping has sought to position itself as the world’s foremost defender of globalisation and free trade. This is something of a paradox, as China has many market restrictions of its own that have long plagued foreign investors. With that in mind, what exactly is the Chinese definition of free trade, and what sort of globalisation is the Chinese government supporting?

Speaking at the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Xi pledged that:

China will vigorously foster an external environment of opening-up for common development. We will advance the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific and negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to form a global network of free trade arrangements1.

That follows a similar promise in the communiqué issued after the Third Plenary Session (or Third Plenum) of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to the communiqué, “To adapt to the new trend of economic globalisation, we must promote domestic openness together with openness to the outside world… and foster new advantages in participating in and leading international economic cooperation and competition at a faster pace, to promote reform through opening up”2. To this end, the communiqué listed “speeding up the construction of free trade zones” as a “major task”3.

China is in the midst of a new wave of free trade negotiations. Six of China’s 13 FTAs with external partners were signed after the Third Plenum communiqué was issued in 20134. China’s goals in pursuing these FTAs are often more political than economic. Even China’s financial goals are in many ways unique, and sometimes at odds with the free trade aspirations of developed economies.

China’s Free Trade Agreements: An overview

As of April 2018, China has signed bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with 12 other states, as well as an agreement linking China with the ten member states of the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Beijing began its foray into FTAs soon after acceding to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001; its first, the Framework Agreement on China-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, was inked in 2002 (although the establishment of the China-ASEAN free trade area would not come until 2010). From 2006-2011, China signed six more FTAs (with Pakistan, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, and Costa Rica). Since Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, China has signed an additional six agreements (with Switzerland, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Georgia, and the Maldives). Eight more are under negotiation.

China is currently negotiating upgrades to its FTAs with Pakistan, Singapore, and New Zealand. It is also pursuing multilateral agreements, most notably the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (a 16 party framework involving the ten ASEAN member states and the six countries that have separate FTAs with ASEAN), but also a trilateral FTA with Japan and the Republic of Korea. Other negotiating partners in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• China: Champion of
• Colophon
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• China’s New Economic Powerhouse
• Free Trade with Chinese Characteristics
• Is China a Market Economy?
• China in Global Technology Governance
• Chinese Global Climate Change Leadership
• China’s New Energy Sourcing
• Policy Recommendations for the EU
• The Authors