中国是否应该加入CPTPP?

Should China Join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership?

在《全面且先进的跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》(CPTPP)正式生效并开始考虑成员扩容之后,中国面临是否应该加入CPTPP 的抉择。本文认为,与四年前《跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》(TPP)刚完成谈判时的情形相比,中国面临的国际国内形势都发生了较大变化。这些变化都有利于中国加入CPTPP。中国加入CPTPP 不仅必要而且可行。必要性体现在:美国未来重返CPTPP 的可能性非常大,中国尽早加入CPTPP 能带来经济层面、深化自身改革开放、参与全球经济治理三方面的收益,并有利于应对中美经贸摩擦。可行性体现在:与TPP 刚完成谈判时的情形相比,中国的制度和政策与CPTPP 规则的差距已缩小;CPTPP 开始考虑成员扩容问题;美国不属于CPTPP 成员,程序上无法阻挠中国加入;中国在中美经贸磋商中积累了谈判高标准国际经贸规则的经验。当然,中国加入CPTPP 确实面临不少困难,本文提出了化解这些困难的方法。总之,中国应该作出加入CPTPP 的决定。

China faces the choice of whether it should join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after CPTPP came into force and began considering accession of new members. China’s international and domestic situation has changed considerably since the negotiation of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was completed four years ago and these changes all tend to support China’s accession into CPTPP. China’s accession into the CPTPP is not only necessary but also feasible. It is necessary for China to join the CPTPP because it is very likely that the United States will return to CPTPP in the future and China’s earlier accession into the CPTPP, while it serves its economic interests, helps promote its reform and opening up, and facilitates its participation in global economic governance, is conducive to its dealing with the China-US economic and trade frictions. It is feasible because the gap of rules between China and the CPTPP has narrowed compared with four years ago, when the TPP negotiation was completed;and the CPTPP has begun to consider the accession of new members;meanwhile, the United States is not a member of the CPTPP, and thus cannot procedurally prevent China from joining it;and China has accumulated rich experiences of negotiation on high standards of international economic and trade rules from the China-US bilateral negotiations. Admittedly, China also faces some challenges in joining the CPTPP and this article proposes ways to cope with those difficulties.