Bolstering Confidence In Multilateralism

By Lan Xinzhen

China and New Zealand on January 26 signed a protocol regarding the upgrade of their free trade agreement （FTA） signed in 2008， a full display of Chinas commitment to multilateralism and an open world economy. The openness of free trade between the two countries， as revealed by the protocol， even surpasses that of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership （RCEP）， signed by 15 countries， including China and New Zealand， in November 2020. The RCEP is the largestscale FTA the world has ever seen.

The protocol now paves the way for further regional economic integration： China will further expand its opening up in sectors including aviation， education， finance， elderly care， and passenger transport to New Zealand to boost service-based trade. New Zealand on its part will bring down the threshold for reviewing Chinese investment， granting it the same assessment requirements as set for the members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership （CPTPP）.

The FTA upgrade adds several new chapters on e-commerce， government procurement， competition policy as well as environment and trade， in addition to a series of upgrades related to the rules of origin， customs procedures and trade facilitation， technical barriers to trade and trade in services.

The upgrade of the FTA between China and New Zealand is undoubtedly bolstering the worlds confidence in multilateralism and economic globalization， a godsend for a world economy in the throes of unilateralism.

China is now the second largest economy in the world as well as a major driver of in- ternational economic growth， and consequently the ripple effect of the Chinese economic growth has become too significant to be neglected. China and New Zealand signed their FTA back in 2008， when the world was still dominated by multilateralism， in contrast to todays prevailing unilateralism that is imperiling international economic growth.

As both nations are RCEP and World Trade Organization members， their bilateral agreements can be used as a frame of reference by other members during their trade activities. Although China is not a CPTPP member， New Zealand， which is， is able to permit China the same threshold as the one enjoyed by CPTPP members thanks to the renewed protocol. Another major contribution of this network to safeguarding multilateralism is how it helps relieve the harm unilateralism has caused to all parties involved.