CANBERRA: Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations are set to sign an enormous free trade deal at an online summit that started Thursday, with the pact seen as a coup for China in extending its influence across the region. Once signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the world’s largest trade pact in terms of GDP, according to analysts. “RCEP will be the world’s biggest free trade area measured in terms of GDP,” he told Agence France-Presse. “It certainly lends advantage to China’s geopolitical ambitions,” said Alexander Capri, a trade expert at the National University of Singapore Business School. While the region waits to see how its relationship with the US will unfold, it is battling several other thorny issues—including disputes over the South China Sea.

Source: Manila Times November 12, 2020 03:33 UTC