A Research On The Framework Of The Rules Of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area

There are two trends of world economic growth called globalization and regionalization since the end of the Second World War. According to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, 214 free trade areas had been established by October, 2006 with 52 free trade areas in Europe Union, 81 free trade areas in Asia. At present, the regional economic cooperation has become much stronger.ASEAN consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Cambodia. There are 4.5 millions square kilometers in this region and its population is up to 530 million. ASEAN also experiences faster economic growth rate than that of the average world economic growth. The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between the People's Republic of China and the Association of Southwest Asian Nations was signed in November, 2002, which includes the trade in goods, service, investment and other economic fields. China-ASEAN free trade area (CAFTA) will be one of the largest regional economic organizations in the world.In the 21st century, China begins to participate in the cooperation of regional economic organizations. Three agreements have been established and eight agreements are being negotiated between China and its partners. However, the rules of these agreements established by them need to be improved owing to the lack of experience in establishing free trade area. This thesis intends to analyze the rules of CAFTA and find out its disadvantages. It has three parts. The first part includes chapters One and Two which introduces the definition and history of free trade agreement (FTA). The part also points out some principles in establishing FTA.The second part includes chapters Three and Four. This section introduces the characteristics of FTA, the main contents of the agreement of CAFTA and the history of China's participation in regional economic organization.The final part includes chapters Five to Eight which are the emphases of this thesis. There are also some personal viewpoints about the agreement between China and ASEAN. This part analyzes the rules of origin, safeguard measure, dispute settlement mechanism in detail. I think a set of efficient departments needs to be established in CAFTA in order to achieve the CAFTA's goals in the future. After studying the establishment of departments in North America Free Trade Area, some sections such as free trade area council, the secretariat, the negotiation committee, the arbitration committee, the expert group, the committee on the rules of origin and so on, need to be established for harmonizing the relations between the members of CAFTA.Secondly, the criterion of"change of tax code"has the advantages of impersonality, impartiality and easy to be implemented compared with the criterion of"ad valorem percentage"in terms of the rules of origin. The dispute settlement mechanism still needs to be improved in CAFTA so that this area will become more attractive.I believe that my study on the rules of CAFTA is of great meaning. And more study needs to be done in this field for the development of China.