US may lack ‘ability to lead IPEF, reconcile interests’ with members
As the US announced on Monday its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a plan widely believed to be aimed at isolating China, observers noted that the comprehensive economic framework may take years to take shape and could become something the US itself may find hard to drive, but they added that it is still a menace that China needs to address.
As a response, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized on Monday in a speech delivered to the 78th Session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific that "the concept of Asia-Pacific should not be diluted, and Asia-Pacific cooperation should not be disrupted."
The remark followed Wang's Sunday comment on the so-called US "strategy" which aims not only to erase the name of "Asia-Pacific" and effective regional cooperation framework in the Asia-Pacific region, but also to efface the achievements and momentum of peace and development fostered by regional countries through decades of joint efforts. Wang noted that anyone trying to use a framework to isolate China will eventually isolate itself, and the one making up rules to exclude China will be abandoned by the times.
The US and 12 other countries - together accounting for 40 percent of world GDP - announced the IPEF, a highlight of US President Joe Biden's Asia trip, on Monday. Biden is also set to attend a Quad summit in Japan on Tuesday.
Chinese analysts said that Wang's emphasis on "Asia-Pacific" is to reaffirm that the region's prevailing trend is cooperation, which goes against the confrontation heralded by the US' so-called IPEF that has geopolitical aims.
Still, US officials could not help bragging about the "overwhelming and broad-scale response from the Indian subcontinent, to Down Under, to Southeast Asia, to Northeast Asia."
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a routine press conference on Monday that China is happy to see initiatives boosting regional cooperation but is firmly opposed to schemes that try to stir up discord and confrontation. Wang urged the US to follow free trade rules, rather than trying to reverse regional integration by setting up its own game.
An 'economic NATO'
The initial list of member countries of IPEF, as disclosed on Monday, is similar to that of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), with the absence of China, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar and with the addition of the US and India.
Experts said that compared with the RCEP, the world's largest free trade pact that is already yielding concrete benefits to signatory countries, IPEF has just been announced and details about it are still scant. However, IPEF could be something like an "economic NATO," with the US adding concrete rules to its framework in the coming years to serve its interests.