Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], November 3 : The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has signed an upgraded free trade agreement with China, a move that many analysts interpret as deepening China's economic control over the region.
The deal, officially titled the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol, was signed on October 28 in Kuala Lumpur during the ASEAN Summit, witnessed by Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
However, experts caution that the agreement could expose ASEAN nations to new vulnerabilities from industrial decline to compromised economic sovereignty, as reported by The Epoch Times.
According to The Epoch Times, China remains ASEAN's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade exceeding USD 771 billion last year, according to official data. Yet, this relationship has increasingly been described as a "backdoor" for Chinese goods to evade US tariffs through the practice of "origin washing."
Washington has imposed penalties as high as 40 per cent on ASEAN countries found trans-shipping Chinese products under false certificates of origin. Pavida Pananond, a business scholar at Thailand's Thammasat University, warned that the new deal could turn Southeast Asia into a hub for Chinese "origin washing," urging caution against overreliance on Chinese imports.
Echoing this sentiment, Indonesian academic Teuku Rezasyah stated that ASEAN's weaker members, such as Cambodia and Laos, lack the enforcement capacity to monitor illicit trade flows. He noted that the influx of low-cost Chinese goods, fuelled by China's industrial overcapacity, has already forced thousands of factories in Thailand and Indonesia to close, a trend that threatens to hollow out local industries.
A commentary in The Edge Malaysia by Monash University lecturers highlighted that Chinese goods, often sold below production cost, could further cripple small and medium-sized enterprises across ASEAN, as highlighted by The Epoch Times.
Meanwhile, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has condemned Beijing's aggression in the South China Sea, warning of China's growing influence in the region. Julio S Amador III, a Manila-based analyst, stated that the trade pact could weaken ASEAN's unity and undercut regional support for the Philippines' sovereignty claims. Analysts conclude that ASEAN's new trade pact risks deepening China's economic stranglehold, transforming cooperation into quiet submission, as reported by The Epoch Times.
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