Asean leaders to sign China-backed RCEP amid US election uncertainty

Hanoi

SOUTH-EAST Asian leaders start their meetings on Thursday that are expected to lead to an ambitious China-backed trade deal, at a time when the still uncertain presidential election result in the United States leaves questions over its engagement in the region.

Leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to conclude talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade deal on Sunday.

The deal, which is expected to be signed later on Sunday on the sidelines of a mostly online, four-day Asean Summit in Hanoi, will take years to complete but will progressively lower tariffs across many areas and could become the world's biggest trade agreement.

The 15 participating RCEP countries make up nearly a third of the world's people and account for 29 per cent of global gross domestic product. China is already the biggest source of imports and destination for exports for would-be RCEP members.

"The signing of RCEP will provide momentum for regional trade, particularly between signatories," said Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung. Vietnam currently holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean.

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Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will lead the Singapore delegation for the 37th Asean Summit and Related Summits from Thursday to Sunday via video conference.

In line with Vietnam's Asean chairmanship theme of "Cohesive and Responsive Asean", the bloc's leaders "will discuss the public health and socio-economic challenges posed by Covid-19", and chart a path to recovery, said the Prime Minister's Office in a statement on Wednesday.

The leaders will also exchange views on regional and international issues, and continue discussions on how to strengthen regional cooperation, reinforce Asean centrality, and promote regional peace and stability.

The leaders will meet their counterparts during the Asean Plus Three Summit, the East Asia Summit, the RCEP Summit, and summits with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Nations and the US.

The summit in Vietnam comes while the result of the US presidential election has yet to be declared despite Democrat Joe Biden projected to have comfortably won the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

Mr Biden, who was vice-president during former president Barack Obama's so-called "Asian pivot", is expected to steer away from President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda and re-engage more actively in the region.

But legal challenges to the election result and the firing of the US defence secretary by Mr Trump risk raising concerns among US allies at a time that China's influence is growing.

Mr Trump's tariff-raising trade war with China has given extra impetus in recent years to push ahead with the RCEP, which had otherwise progressed only sluggishly since negotiations began in 2012.

The deal, which is expected to be the most significant agreement at this year's Asean Summit, will likely cement China's position more firmly as an economic partner with South-east Asia, Japan and South Korea, and put it in a better position to shape the region's trade rules.

"The uncertainty regarding the US election raises questions regarding US participation in relevant meetings and may give China a chance to influence the narrative about America's engagement with the region," said Le Hong Hiep, a fellow at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. REUTERS