Commerce Ministry Pushes Early Implementation of China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 Upgrade

Summary

Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Chenghua told a State Council Information Office briefing on the 15th Five-Year Plan that China will push for the early entry into force of the China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 upgrade protocol and the China-Peru FTA upgrade protocol, accelerate free trade negotiations or upgrades with South Korea, New Zealand and Central Asian countries, and seek positive progress in RCEP expansion and upgrading. He proposed further raising the level of liberalisation in goods, services and investment, and actively incorporating rules in emerging areas such as the digital and intelligent economy, green development and government procurement. On high-quality commercial development under the 15th Five-Year Plan, Jiang elaborated on four aspects: fostering new momentum for consumption, expanding new space for high-level opening up, making new contributions to global economic governance, and building new safeguards for open development, including implementing the strategy of upgrading pilot free trade zones, safeguarding the WTO-centred multilateral trading system, and improving the legal and regulatory system for countering sanctions, interference and 'long-arm jurisdiction'.

Yang Mu, director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion, said the ministry will continue to strengthen the 'Buy in China' brand and expand the coverage of departure tax refunds. Yang Tao, director of the Department of Foreign Trade, proposed deepening the 'three pillars' of goods trade, services trade and digital trade. Zhao Chunfeng, director of the Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation, said 'high quality' in outward investment and cooperation should be reflected in four aspects: adequate management, responsive services, high development quality and effective protection of interests.

Wu Di, head of the Foreign Investment Management Department, said the ministry will continue to enhance the innovation-led development capacity of pilot free trade zones.

Commentary

At the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's Ministry of Commerce has signalled it will push for the early entry into force of the China-ASEAN FTA 3.0 upgrade protocol and accelerate free trade negotiations or upgrades with New Zealand and other countries. For New Zealand small and medium-sized enterprises, this points to further unlocking of the benefits of the upgraded China-New Zealand free trade agreement. New Zealand's exports to China are dominated by primary products such as dairy, meat and timber, and large exporters like Fonterra and Silver Fern Farms are already deeply integrated into the Chinese market, but many smaller suppliers still face tariff and non-tariff barriers.

If the China-New Zealand FTA further reduces tariffs in goods trade, especially for New Zealand's competitive categories such as dairy, honey and wine, SMEs will gain more direct access opportunities. At the same time, the China-ASEAN 3.0 version incorporates emerging rules on the digital and intelligent economy, green development and government procurement, which may drive a restructuring of regional supply chains. New Zealand companies need to watch changes in rules of origin and cumulation to use ASEAN as a springboard into the Chinese market.

On the other hand, China's emphasis on expanding departure tax refund coverage and strengthening the 'Buy in China' brand offers indirect opportunities for New Zealand's travel retail, premium food and health supplement exporters, but competition will also intensify. New Zealand SMEs should closely track negotiation progress, assess tariff preference margins and compliance costs in advance, and consider cooperating with ASEAN partners to optimise supply chain arrangements.

Keywords: China-ASEAN FTA 3.0, FTA upgrade, 15th Five-Year Plan, Ministry of Commerce, RCEP expansion, high-level opening up, pilot free trade zones, Jiang Chenghua

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Source: gxcounty.com