The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China inaugurated a free-trade area Friday that slashes tariffs in an area with a population of 2 billion, the United Press International (UPI) reported. Under the agreement, China is cutting tariffs on imports from ASEAN nations from an average of 9.8 percent to about 0.1 percent, Xinhua, the official government news agency, reported. Chinese imports to the original ASEAN members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- now taxed at an average of 12.8 percent, will carry 0.6 percent tariffs. The new ASEAN members, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, are expected to allow 90 percent of Chinese imports in without tariff by 2015.
