Date: March 23, 2021

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was launched by ASEAN in 2012, and has been eight years in the making by 15 members of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

On November 15, 2020, the fourth RCEP Leaders' Meeting was held in a video format, after which the 10 ASEAN countries and 15 Asia-Pacific countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, formally signed the RCEP.

The signing of this agreement marks the official launch of the free trade area with the largest population, the largest economic scale and the greatest development potential in the world.

On March 8, 2021, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said at the "Ministers' Channel" of the second session of the NPC and CPPCC that the Chinese government has officially approved the agreement. 

On March 22, 2021, a person in charge of the Department of International Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce said that China has completed the ratification of the RCEP agreement, becoming the first country to ratify the agreement. In addition, Thailand has ratified the Agreement. All RCEP members have said they will ratify the agreement by the end of this year and push for its entry into force on January 1, 2022.

(Edited by Zhang Chunyu, China Intellectual Property Magazine)

Reference article: News from China's Ministry of Commerce/Baidu search