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China-US relations: Joe Biden’s Asia-Pacific trade framework to be handled with ‘caution’, Beijing advisers say

  • Former Chinese officials say Beijing must ‘consider’ neighbouring nations who have signed onto the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
  • Studying the Asia-Pacific initiative will help China take part in regional economic development and help it deal with the US, experts say

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US President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listen to other leaders joining the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Photo: Reuters

China should take an objective and cautious attitude towards US President Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), top-ranking former Chinese officials have said.

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The IPEF, which is not a traditional free-trade agreement but seeks to establish rules covering areas from data protection to carbon emissions, was launched in Tokyo last month.

The US has said 13 Asia-Pacific nations, accounting for 40 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product, had joined – though crucially not China.

“Despite the bumpy China-US relationship and Biden’s new IPEF initiative hoping to exclude China from mainstream Indo-Pacific collaborations, we shouldn’t be too harsh and critical towards [it],” said Long Yongtu, China’s former vice-commerce minister at a forum organised by the Centre for China and Globalisation.

Many members of the trade agreement – including Australia, Brunei, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam – are signatories to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which includes China, and are “important partners”, said Long at the event on Sunday.
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