China in prime position to shape regional trade rules

EIGHT long years and 46 rounds of negotiations - with plenty of "blood, sweat and tears" along the way, as Malaysia's trade minister recently put it - bore fruit on Sunday as the world's largest trading bloc became a reality at last.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as it is called, is a mega free trade pact backed by China and involves 14 other Asia-Pacific countries including Singapore.

Even as…

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