Heine Publishes Op-Ed on Global Trade and Globalization
On November 26, 2020, Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a Global Times op-ed discussing China’s rise in global trade and globalization.
In the article, titled “RCEP, CPTPP and the Asian Century,” Heine discusses China’s recent signing of the the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), it’s interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and how this move marks a the return of the Asia-Pacific region as the center of world affairs. Heine argues that the formalization of the RCEP, India’s decision to opt-out of this agreement, and shifting trade policy priorities in the United States have seemingly shifted the world closer to “what Kishore Mahbubani has referred to as the Asian Century.”
An excerpt:
We are thus witnessing the return, in full regalia, of the Asia Pacific to the center of world affairs. If China were to join the TPP11, and we could look at the possibility of a merger between the RCEP and the TPP11, that would be a real game-changer. It would certainly move us further along to what Kishore Mahbubani has referred to as the Asian Century.
The full article can be read on the Global Times‘ website.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more on him here.