Economic Integration in Asia: Key Prospects and Challenges with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy)

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) aims to achieve greater integration between the ASEAN region and its six free trade agreement (FTA) partners (India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Korea). The RCEP is the only agreement to include three economies which are among the seven biggest economies of the world—China, Japan and India. The book opens with an introduction to the current status of economic integration and factors that would affect it and looks at key issues like non-tariff barriers, evolving investment regulations in China (in the context of FTAs), connectivity initiatives to integrate the region, rules of origin in the context of value chain integration in selected sectors as well as region-specific aspects of South Asia and South East Asia which would shape the regional economic architecture going forward. With an attempt to cover key imperatives, the book concludes by noting primary impediments to easier trade and investment flows in the region, highlighting possible policy recommendations to improve economic integration. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of figures 8 List of tables 10 Preface and Acknowledgements 12 List of contributors 14 Introduction 18 PART I: RCEP, growth corridors in Asia and connectivity 22 1 The evolution of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 24 2 Trade and economic integration for South Asia: exploring corridors and dynamism in Asia 44 3 Connectivity: the key to South Asia’s integration with the Asian region 53 PART II: Selected issues in Asian economic integration 70 4 RCEP and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs): incidence, issues and the Indian perspective 72 5 The legal issues of RCEP investment rules: a Sino-ASEAN perspective 88 6 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: facilitating intra-regional value chains through rules of origin 110 PART III: Regional perspectives within Asia: India, ASEAN 5, CLMV and South Asia 132 7 India’s integration in services with Asian FTA partners 134 8 ASEAN-5 and its RCEP priorities: challenges and the way forward 161 9 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership: prospects and implications for CLMV 176 10 South Asia’s greater integration in Asia: looking beyond the RCEP 186 11 Economic integration in the emergent global landscape: an argument for Asian integration 202 Index 216 The book opens with an introduction to the current status of economic integration and factors that would affect the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and looks at key issues as well as region specific aspects of South Asia and South East Asia which would shape the regional economic architecture going forward. Edited By Deeparghya Mukherjee. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.