Xianghui(Ray) Chen 2153583
China and Global Financial Crisis
US-Led TPP VS China-Backed RCEP
—Applying Main IR Theories To US Policy-Making Process And Relevant Developments
The backdrop of the TPP and RCEP
WTO and TPP
TPP and TTIP are drawn from the two precedent successful free-trade experiments, the EU and NAFTA(North American Free Trade Agreement). EU originated from the European
Coal and Steel Community, before developing into the Common Market and further into
European Community, and finally, into the EU. 1The ‘living’, ‘evolving’ treaties and agreements of the EU very much guide the living agreement of TPP/TTIP. NAFTA originated from CUSFTA (Canada-US FTA), which was implemented in 1989, and followed by NAFTA, ratified in 1994. Both EU and NAFTA existed before the WTO finally replaced
GATT at the beginning of 1995. The replacement not only greatly expanded sectoral coverage but also replaced the GATT’s quite weak dispute-settlement mechanism.2
The liberalization and integration of trade had mainly proceeded under the auspice of WTO prior to the year 2000. With the evolvement characterized by the widening of the trade agenda to include the movement of people and not just that of goods, services, investments and capital,3 international society called for an update of the WTO. Although the Doha round did inspire some discussion in 2001, developing states fundamentally refused to open their market to the services and goods of the developed ones. With very little progress and protracted timetable, many states had become disappointed with the development and had turned to bilateral or regional FTAs as alternatives rather than under the auspice of the
WTO4, seeing as the WTO charter allows for regional, preferential and plurilateral trade associations to coexist. A cluster of new FTAS soon attracted the attention of all states from
