(I) Key Contents and Characteristics of RCEP
The RCEP includes 15 countries: the 10 ASEAN member states, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Upon signing, these 15 countries will abide by common rules on tariffs, rules of origin, investment access, intellectual property, competition policy, and e-commerce. Compared with existing regional free trade agreements, RCEP exhibits three distinguishing features. First, it is the world’s largest free trade agreement. Although India withdrew from RCEP negotiations, RCEP remains the FTA covering the largest geographical area, benefiting the greatest number of people, and encompassing the largest combined economic output. Geographically, RCEP spans East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific; in terms of population, it covers approximately 30% of the world’s total population; and in terms of economic scale, the combined GDP of its member states accounts for 29% of global GDP. Second, RCEP embraces an inclusive and open principle. Since RCEP members include high-income countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia, middle-income countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, as well as low-income countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, the RCEP agreement aims to establish an inclusive, flexible, and mutually beneficial FTA—designed so that countries and economies at varying stages of development can all benefit. Third, RCEP is the only regional trade agreement centered on developing economies. Initiated by ASEAN, all other participating countries first established ‘ASEAN+1’ FTAs with ASEAN individually, and ASEAN then serves as the central node linking them together. Thus, rather than pursuing ever-higher levels of openness unilaterally, RCEP prioritizes ‘development’ as its core objective, striving to maximize balanced economic benefits for all participating countries.
(II) Major Significance and Impacts of RCEP
RCEP will promote economic growth across Asia-Pacific and globally. RCEP significantly lowers trade costs and market barriers among its members and substantially enhances trade and investment facilitation. On one hand, it will foster efficient and free flow of various factors within the region, boosting intra-regional trade and investment; on the other hand, improved business environments within the region will attract more foreign multinational enterprises to invest and relocate supply chains—thereby stimulating broader Asia-Pacific and global economic growth. According to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) projections, RCEP will generate $260 billion in global income.
RCEP will reshape industrial and value chain configurations. RCEP members possess diverse resource endowments and factor advantages, and their market structures are multi-layered. While promoting upstream-downstream industrial cooperation based on comparative advantage among member countries, RCEP will also influence trade and investment flows both within the region and globally: emerging ASEAN economies are expected to absorb more processing trade from developed economies—and even from Chinese enterprises—while Chinese firms stand to gain enhanced market access to developed economies such as Japan and South Korea under RCEP’s liberalized and facilitated conditions. Consequently, the freer movement of production factors enabled by RCEP will disrupt current industrial layouts, reconfiguring Asia-Pacific and global industrial and value chains through shifts in trade structure and multinational corporate investment patterns.
RCEP will accelerate the restructuring of global economic and trade rules. First, RCEP provides practical experience for establishing a more open and inclusive international economic and trade governance system worldwide. Prior to RCEP’s conclusion, numerous bilateral and plurilateral FTAs among Asia-Pacific economies had created a ‘noodle bowl effect’. By integrating five ‘ASEAN+1’ FTAs into a unified rule-based framework, RCEP maximizes balance among national interests and accommodates the divergent needs of countries at different development stages—offering valuable insights and lessons for reforming multilateral trade governance systems represented by the WTO. Second, RCEP reflects a collective determination among nations to jointly resist the tide of deglobalization and represents a concentrated expression of developing countries’ interests in global economic and trade governance. At present, amid escalating U.S.-initiated trade disputes and the WTO’s multilateral trade governance system reaching an impasse, RCEP assumes even greater strategic significance.
RCEP may exert potential influence on the geopolitical landscape. For ASEAN, the conclusion of the RCEP agreement helps it navigate the impact of U.S.-China trade tensions more steadily and reduces dependence on the U.S. economy. By incorporating major regional powers—including China and Japan—into a cooperative framework, RCEP helps prevent ASEAN from being fragmented along competing geopolitical axes. Simultaneously, RCEP strengthens ASEAN’s position in the Asia-Pacific region and expands its economic and political gains. For other Asia-Pacific countries, RCEP fosters an integrated community of shared interests through industrial and value chain convergence; such deepening economic interdependence inevitably exerts subtle yet profound effects on the regional geopolitical landscape.
Last updated: 2026-03-08