In the backdrop of the current American withdrawal from global geo-economic initiatives (such as TPP), the Silk Road news of this week focuses on how Asian actors (especially China, Japan, and India) are rolling out initiatives and projects across Asia.
China is further strengthening its trade relations with Australia. China-Briefing article [China-Australia: Opportunities for Trade and Investment] discusses such trade opportunities in the aftermath of the first Australian high-level ministerial visit to China this year. Despite the recent diplomatic and political tensions between the two countries, economic relations have largely remained steady under the China-Australia Free trade agreement (ChAFTA) of 2015. The bilateral economic relations promise to be strong due to the far-reaching ChAFTA and the complementary nature of the two economics. China remains Australia’s largest trade partner for goods and services and Australia remains a net exporter to China.
Other Asian actors such as Japan and India are not sitting idly by. News18 article [India-Indonesia Aim to Find Balance] discusses Indonesia giving India (with its Act East Policy) both economic and military access to a port in Sabang. Indonesia has also signed several infrastructure projects with China, trying to strike an amiable balance between the two Asian giants, India and China.
Japan, in its turn, has been pushing for the revival of TPP, according to the Diplomat article [TPP’s Regulatory Capitalism and China’s Belt and Road Challenges]. While the American absence has severely affected TPP’s prospects, “TPP’s project to establish U.S.-style regulatory capitalism as the dominant mode of international economic ordering in the Asia-Pacific lives on.” The eleven remaining parties, led by Japan, are trying to resuscitate the TPP, while keeping the door open for the US to rejoin TPP.
M. Forough
This week's Silk Road Headlines
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