China and Japan are pushing different visions of a massive Asian trade pact that excludes the United States. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will account for 30% of global gross domestic product. Together, RCEP members include more than 3 billion people or 45 percent of the world's population, with a combined GDP of about US$22.5 trillion. Proposed dates for an agreement have come and gone since the first negotiations in 2012, but now China is pushing for a rapid conclusion, as early as next year. Beijing wants a quick deal, mainly focused on lowering tariffs between the 16 RCEP nations. But officials in Australia and Japan want a high-quality deal covering increased market access for goods, services and financial investments, fair competition, protecting intellectual property rights, telecommunications and customs rules. India, with different interests to the other players, has frequently used anti-dumping tariffs to protect its domestic manufacturers from competition from China. India imported goods worth $61.7 billion from China in 2015-16, while India sent products to China merely worth $9.05 billion, according to the Department of Commerce. Lurong Chen, an economist with the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, wrote in The Diplomat in December that rather than conclude a more ambitious agreement, which would be very time-consuming to complete, a basic version should be finished now with the idea of upgrading it later.
