ASEAN-China trade, growth and future prospects under CAFTA

Abstract

Trade integration between ASEAN and China has progressively increased over time despite the dependence of these economies on the trade with their traditional trade partners such as the USA, EU and Japan. This increasing integration has in particular accelerated in the late 1990s. However, while China's economy has continued to grow rapidly from the 1990s to the current period, the growth of the crisis-hit ASEAN economies has fluctuated since 1999. The first objective of this paper is to examine the contribution of the increasing trade integration toward the growth of the ASEAN-5 economies and China. Second, the paper reviews the commitments under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) and its prospects for further trade integration and growth of these economies.