By 2010, China and six old ASEAN member nations, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, will impose zero tariffs on most normal products, while China and the other four new ASEAN members of Cambodia, the Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam will do the same in 2015.
The China-ASEAN FTA has a population of 1.8 billion and two trillion U.S. dollars in gross domestic product (GDP). It will become the third largest global trading region after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Zone.
During the January-November period of 2005, China exported textile and apparel worth 5.08 billion U.S. dollars to the ASEAN, growing 22.4 percent year on year and accounting for 4.8 percent of China's total textile export.
Meanwhile, China imported textile and apparel worth 620 million U.S. dollars from the ASEAN, growing 5.8 percent year on year and making up 4 percent of China's total textile import.
Due to frequent limitations from the United States and the European Union, Chinese textile export still faces huge frustrations when entering the two largest markets after the elimination of global textile quotas in 2005, insiders said.
The significant textile tariff reduction will not only expand Chinese exports to Southeast Asia, but also help them to enter Western countries through bypass means.
Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China
marketing@alchempro.com
