China’s Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao has defended the looming implementation of the China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Free Trade Agreement, saying that country will eventually reap the benefits of such pact in the long term. The deal that Liu was referring to will allow free flow of Asean exports to China and vice versa because of the absence of tariff fees. It is set to be effective by January 1, 2010. Asean groups the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“It is a very good system since it will expand the trade between China and Asean. That is good news because it will make the goods of the involved countries competitive to the world,” he said.

“It will be good both for China and the Asean countries, especially at this time that we are recovering from the global financial crisis,” he added.

The envoy argued that such reaction that the local industry might suffer is just normal, revealing that the same hostility was also felt in China when it was about to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Liu conceded that there are fears that China’s interest will be compromised because it will be tied in following the WTO rules.

He revealed that China’s national industry, especially the agriculture sector, initially felt that its products are not as competitive to the exports from United States, Canada and Australia.

“The farmers were worried, but we faced the challenge. We improved our competitiveness, the markets opened up for us, and it benefited us as well as our partner countries,” he said.

“In the beginning, there will be challenges, of course. But in the long run it will be very, very positive,” he added.

To back up his claims, he underscored that China is keen on importing more fruits, as well as electronic products from the Philippines. China’s market, according to Liu, stands to net $10 trillion to $20 trillion for the Asean countries in the next decade.

He also shrugged skepticism that imported goods will kill the local industry by assuring that China stands ready to engage in technical cooperation on agriculture, fisheries with the Philippines to increase the crop yields of the Filipino farmers and help the country attain self sufficiency in rice.

The Chinese government also vowed to maintain its tough stance against drug trafficking in cooperation with the Philippine government.

Ambassador Jianchao noted that the recently signed RP-China Consular Agreement, which will notify Philippine Embassies and Consulate General in China of arrest and detention of Filipinos, repatriation and settlement of disputes, is just a start of better things to come in the involved countries’ efforts of curbing drug trafficking.
Llanesca T. Panti