ASEAN and Regional Free Trade Agreements

ASEAN economies as a group have signed free trade agreements with China, Japan, Korea, India and Australia/New Zealand. There is now a growing interest in forming a larger regional agreement. The ultimate goal is to operate economies more efficiently and achieve higher growth but the immediate task is to attain a higher level of integration. This book contributes to the literature on the analysis of regional trading arrangements. The book adopts the approach to pay great attention to the design and operation of production supply chains in the East Asian region. The book also provides a basis of the assessment on the progress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to lead broader and deeper engagement that embodied in the existing ASEAN+1 agreements in which its participants were involved by identifying the key features of those agreements.

Efforts to use existing trade agreements to build a larger regional agreement face many challenges. This book considers this problem with reference to ASEAN’s current agreements with key partners and the interest to build the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The analysis of the options is framed by a focus on the use of supply chains in international business. Issues considered include those related to reductions in tariffs, trade facilitation, the treatment of investment and of services and the definition of rules of origin. The work is informed by case studies of supply chains in automobile and electronics, and in a professional service sector. The book provides a set of priority actions for better progress in taking a bottom-up approach to building RCEP.

1. Overview, Christopher Findlay 2. Production Network Trade of ASEAN in the Context of China’s Rise, Nobuaki Yamashita 3. Trade Facilitation in ASEAN+6 Economies: Provisions in FTAs, Performance and the Way Forward, Marie Isabelle Pellan and Marn-Heong Wong 4. FDI Liberalisation, Free Trade Agreements and Greater Regionalism in Asia and ASEAN, Shandre M. Thangavelu, Christopher Findlay and Hank Lim 5. Services in ASEAN+1 FTAs, Hikari Ishido 6. Pursuing a Consolidated Tariff Structure in the RCEP: Sensitivity and Inconsistency in ASEAN’s Trade Protection, Arata Kuno, Yoshifumi Fukunaga and Fukunari Kimura 7. Rules of Origin in ASEAN+1 Free Trade Agreements and the Supply Chain in East Asia, Erlinda M. Medalla and Maureen Ane D. Rosellon 8. ASEAN+1 FTAs and the Global Supply Chain in East Asia: The Case of the Philippine Automotive and Electronics Sectors, Maureen Ane D. Rosellon and Erlinda M. Medalla 9. FTAs and Supply Chains in the Thai Automotive Industry, Archanun Kohpaiboon 10. The Electronics Industry in Malaysia, Rasyad A. Parinduri and Shandre M. Thangavelu 11. The Electronics Industry in Indonesia, Rina Oktaviani and Eka Puspitawati 12. Regulatory Restrictions in Logistics Services of ASEAN+6 Economies, Marn-Heong Wong and Claire H. Hollweg 13. The Nature of Relationships within Supply Networks and Their Role in the Delivery of Services in East Asian Emerging Markets, Susan Freeman, Hung Trong Hoang and Wahid Murad

Christopher Findlay took up the position of Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Professions at the University of Adelaide in June 2011. Professor Findlay is also currently vice-chair of the Australian Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (AUSPECC). Previously he was professor of economics and head of school at the University of Adelaide. Professor Findlay has a PhD and MEc from the ANU and an honours degree in economics from the University of Adelaide. He became a member of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2002 and a member of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2007. Australia’s economic relations with Asia is the theme of his research.