The international seminar “TPP Free Trade Negotiations: RegionalImplications and China” co-organized by Shanghai University ofInternational Business and Economics (SUIBE) and ShanghaiInternational Culture Association (SICA) was held on May 10-11.Zhang Xiaosong, director of the executive board of SUIBE and NieQing, Vice President of SUIBE attended the seminar. The seminar waswell-attended by scholars and experts from Chinese, Singaporean,Indian and American educational and research institutions,officials from China’s Ministry of Commerce, and relevant teachersand students from SUIBE. The Chinese institutions include theChinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Institute ofInternational Studies, Nankai University, Law School of SUIBE, andInstitute of International Strategy and Policy Analysis of SUIBE.The number of participants exceeded eighty.
In his opening address, Zhang Xiaosong highlighted the implicationsof Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as a high-standard regionaltrade agreement for the politics, economy, and the construction oftrade and investment rules in the Asia Pacific region. He believedsuch implications were worth studying. Therefore, the seminarrevolved around discussing the challenges and opportunitiespresented by the TPP negotiations for China’s opening-up drive andproposing China’s policies to respond to them.
It is learned that this seminar is the first of its kind in Chinathemed at TPP. The experts and scholars had heated discussions onthe development of TPP negotiations, the political and economicimplications for the Asia Pacific region, the impact on trade andinvestment rules, China’s responses, and TPP and the Shanghai FreeTrade Area. They believe that many countries in the Asia Pacificregion have a stake in TPP as it is a regional trade agreement andthat TPP has a far-reaching impact on the economic pattern in EastAsia and the paradigm of regional trade systems. As regards themeasures China should take in response to the TPP negotiations, theseminar came up with an initial agreement that China shouldproactively promote FTA and RTA negotiations while pressing aheadwith its domestic reforms and consider joining the TPP negationswhen the time is ripe. Chen Yusong, Director of the Department ofTreaty and Law, Ministry of Commerce was invited to make apresentation on some core issues regarding the TPP negotiations.