TPPA and RCEP: test of solidarity for the ASEAN

摘要

Two of the world's economic superpowers, the US and China, have carried their rivalry over to global trade through enforcement of the the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), picking the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) bloc, or some of its members, as partners in widening their regional clout. Why ASEAN? In general, the ten-country bloc composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,Thailand and Vietnam collectively represents a market of more than 600 million people, with a combined GDP of about US$2.6 trillion.