Satomi Tamai
The first round of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free-trade framework began on Thursday, May 9, in Brunei, with 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan participating. The nations aim to conclude the negotiations by 2015. Japan has already kicked off negotiations for a free trade agreement with China and South Korea, and one with the European Union. It is also expected to join the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in the end of July. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has not made clear the policies for engaging in a series of negotiations for various free trade agreements, and establishment of such policies, including protection of key agricultural products, is an urgent task.
RCEP, the framework encompassing major Asian countries, was launched by 16 member nations – 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. Negotiators for a trilateral free trade pact among Japan, China and South Korea held its first meeting in March, while Japan and the European Union began negotiating for a free trade agreement in April.
21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, comprising 12 RCEP participants including Japan as well as the United States, Canada and Russia, aim to create a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific by 2020.
In starting negotiations, the participants of RCEP and other free trade agreements set up basic guidelines for the talks. All the guidelines include scope for preferential treatment of each member country’s sensitivities such as certain agricultural products. The negotiation guideline for RCEP clearly states that it will recognize “the individual and diverse circumstances of the participating countries” and that it will take into consideration “the different levels of development of the participating countries”.
Tough negotiations are likely to await Japan, however, considering that RCEP includes major exporters of agricultural products such as Australia and New Zealand. Likewise, prospects of negotiations for other free trade agreements – the one with China and South Korea and the other with Europe – remain unclear.
As for the TPP negotiations, according to information gathered by the Japanese government, many member nations take the stance that tariffs on key products should be phased out over a long period of time, and reject any exceptions or renegotiations concerning tariff elimination.
In any case, Japan will inevitably face a fierce battle in protecting its agricultural sector in the negotiations for the talks. Nevertheless, regarding the strategy for tackling trade liberalization talks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga only said in a press conference in January that Abe administration does not intend to follow the Basic Policy on Comprehensive Economic Partnerships put together by the Democratic Party of Japan in 2010, without offering any hints on how to revise it.
(May 10, 2013)