Senior experts decoding Government Work Report

Inclusive approach reflected in trade with ASEAN

By Ong Tee Keat

In 2024, China managed to do well in navigating challenges confronting the various trans-border free-trade areas amid rising protectionism. The indiscriminate weaponization of tariffs against others deemed adversarial in the name of national interests and security emerged as a naked threat to the globalized free trade.

While the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol is well poised to be signed in the near future with the inclusion of consumer protection and competition provisions that are meant to enhance the quality of China-ASEAN free trade, the integral role of WTO-centered multilateral trading system should in no way be left incoherently compromised under the pan-securitization of cross-border trade by the collective West.

In this context, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership looks set to be increasingly influenced by geopolitical considerations when the membership application of China is being brought for scrutiny. In contrast, China's prospects in advancing its model of egalitarian economic integration and inclusive multilateral cooperation seem to gain much momentum and headway in the developing Global South.

All in all, 2025 will mark a year of uncertainties brought about by the threat of tariffs, alongside throwing the global free trade governance into disarray. China remains the beacon of hope as to how it could ultimately pull off in the trading of tariff hikes initiated by the US administration, which is set to be instructive to the entire Global South, notably the BRICS-Plus.

Ong Tee Keat is president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.