In 2005, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, and Brunei signed a cross -Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP).Three years later, the United States "rocked" the agreement and expanded it in order to move eastward, and advocated that the Cross -Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was advocated.In 2016, 12 countries including the United States officially signed TPP, but China was excluded.In the same year, Trown in the White House was entered, and immediately announced the withdrawal from the agreement promoted by the former President Obama.
However, the remaining 11 countries did not give up, and changed their names, saying that the Cross Pacific Partners Comprehensive Progress Agreement (CPTPP).This highlights the importance of the Asia -Pacific countries on the topic of multilateral economic and trade cooperation. Even if the United States is missing, everyone is determined to promote economic and trade cooperation.The United States came and went again, and it did not derail this economic and trade agenda.
Fast to January 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) of 15 Asia -Pacific countries in Asia Pacific officially took effect. This time, it joined China, but India chose to withdraw at the last moment.In any case, this is a huge community of free regional free trade, showing that multilateral economic and trade cooperation in Asia -Pacific countries has been pushed forward.
Political game stir Economic and trade cooperation
Unfortunately, the sunrise west of the east.The multilateral economic and trade cooperation in the Asia -Pacific countries was soon stirred by geopolitical games.India, who exited RCEP, chose to join the US, India, Japan, and Australia "Quad" (Quad).At the same time, the United States, Britain, and Australia also formed a three -sided security partnership mechanism (Aukus).
The South China Sea and the Pacific are cloudy.After World War II, the British -French and German battleships, who had been extinct, came to our door, and Australia decided to order nuclear power submarines from the United States.The ADSBC and processes of the multilateral economic and trade cooperation in the Asia -Pacific countries are facing the danger of being subverted.
The title of the Local English Strait Times Edition on April 8th, the title "ARMING AGAINST War" (prevention of the troops from war) is even more shocking.The three articles under the title are two more topics pointing directly to China.One is: Chinese show muscles, and East Asia neighboring state has stepped up defense; the other is: Southeast Asia chasing China's military forces.The third article analyzes that the Asian arms competition is in danger of conflicting.The cooked noodles of the article mainly refer to China's tough attitude (Assertiveness), which led to the succession of neighboring countries.
This is another debate with chickens or eggs first.However, some Asia -Pacific countries are fighting for fear of adding arms.Even Australia, which is more than 7,400 kilometers apart from China, said that it felt the threat of China. Japan, which is a dispute between the Diaoyu Islands in the nearby country, has even more vibrated its arms.It will increase defense expenditure from 1%of the GDP to 2%, align with the standards of the North Atlantic Convention. At the same time, it will purchase 400 US -Metahamma cruise missiles.
and China also have islands in the Philippines. It seems that there is not much money to buy the US military fire, so choose another way to add military bases to the US military.The Magakus government recently announced that it will increase the four US military bases, so that the United States has reached nine bases in the Philippines.South Korea is now talking about nuclear military.That is, even Taiwan, which is regarded as a chess piece, is anxious to buy more US military fire.In order to maintain the domineering position of the Pacific Ocean itself, the United States announced that it would increase the budget of military expenses in 2024 to $ 842 billion (about S $ 11 billion).In the face of the United States, China naturally had to actively actively conduct the entire military.
The Russian and Ukraine War made the US military fire prosperous in the European market, and the US -made military fire in the Asian market has also been expanded.No wonder some people in the United States are discussing how to cope with arms production.On March 31, Seth G. Jones, senior vice president of the US think tank strategy and international research center, and the director of the international security project, published an article in foreign affairs magazines that after the outbreak of the Russian and Ukraine War, the United States continued to give Ukra a FangSending various weapons, including the anti -tank missile system, the Hamas multi -tube rocket launcher, and the anti -aircraft missile missile, a total of $ 32 billion in one year.Many of these weapons come from the inventory of the United States itself, and the inventory has bottomed out quickly.
He said that the number of benchmark missiles that the United States transported to Ukraine in the first six months of the war was equivalent to the total number of production in the military factory for seven years.Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense must inject capital to accelerate production as soon as possible.He emphasized that if the war fires in Asia, the US military factory will face greater pressure.Conclusion: The foundation of the US defense industry is completely insufficient. If you do not quickly adjust the change, the United States will not be able to cope with a long -lasting war, and it will not be able to stop Russia or China aggression.
This shows that the US military fire dealers who have opened up the market have been expanded around the world. Next, there will be major events to expand the production line and step up production.Regarding all this, politicians in the United States can tell themselves that selling weapons to strengthen martial arts for all countries is not for war, but to prevent war.Recently, Michael McCaul, chairman of the US Congress House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Commission, led a two -party member delegation to visit Taiwan to say that it was the argument that to accelerate the transportation of weapons to Taiwan.The arms dealer has become a peaceful messenger.
Southeast Asian countries actually hope that the United States can work hard in terms of economy and trade, and strengthen economic and trade links and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, rather than blindly the poor soldiers.However, the Americans obviously are not here, so they are just virtual and commissioned. For them, the military fire market and military fire business must be tight.Europe can actually be used as a lesson in Asia.The Russian and Ukraine War allowed the United States to reopen the European arms market, and the European countries were assumed to be attached to damage.The Beixi Natural Gas Pipeline, which was directly connected to Germany, was blown up. The comprehensive investment agreement pushed by former German Prime Minister Merkel's period was also frozen.Europeans want strategic autonomy, but NATO has become a tight curse on their heads.
After the pain and pain, German Chancellor Tsutz decided to lead the business delegation to visit China last November.French President Macron also kept up, and a large number of French companies and China signed a lot of large orders.At the time of Macron's visit to China, the European Airbus Company announced that it would build a second production line in Tianjin to expand the total installation capacity of the A320 narrow -body passenger aircraft.At the same time, Airbus also signed a new cooperation agreement with the Chinese aviation industry partners, including the batches of the 160 aircraft civilian aircraft.Boeing should be a bit anxious.
Mutual and mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation is still the most practical.After the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, the geopolitical in the Middle East quickly changed.Recently, China persuaded and talked about the reconciliation of Saudi Arabia and Iran.Will the Middle East break through the geopolitical pattern of Western control?
Facts show that China can make a difference in diplomacy, and the diplomacy that persuades and talks is also popular.Strengthening multilateral economic and trade cooperation is also the common desire of many countries, especially when the economies of various countries need to re -vibrate and recover after the epidemic.Therefore, countries in the Asia -Pacific region should avoid being put on the tight curse of the military alliance (of course, Japan and South Korea can't help themselves); on the contrary, they should play strategic autonomy to protect their own interests and ensure that the economic agenda and processes are not subverted by foreign.
The author is a former journalist, a former member of the Congress
