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Vietnamese exit from TPP a chance for China to push regional trade pact

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Vietnamese exit from TPP a chance for China to push regional trade pact
By Andy Brennan Source: Global Times
Published: 2016/11/27 18:48:39


Vietnam's parliament has further twisted the already contorted US "ring of steel" isolating China by shelving the ratification of the economic net of the Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP, the signature economic component of outgoing US President Barack Obama's Asia rebalancing strategy, was sold to ASEAN countries as a net of gold. It would interlock economies, lower tariffs and bolster trade. It was "free" of nasty little taxes, regulations, and custom duties. It was heralded, as all neoliberal doctrines are, for its benefit to all.

The US neoliberal "establishment" are watching their golden net, woven together to exclude China, break apart as the taut links have been stretched beyond their original form because of the protectionist perspectives of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Vietnam believed the TPP would have dissolved tariffs on some of their key exports, bringing a bountiful surplus to its exports and manufacturing economy, which is enjoying record foreign investment due to its numerous trade accords, cheap labor and relative political stability. Seeing that hope fade, Vietnam is simply bailing before the fat orange man sings and following other Asian countries such as the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

Only Japan is remaining rigid and trying to stick with the TPP and push ratification, but Abe is cultivating regional relations for his own benefits beyond the TPP. Excluding China was never really going to work considering it's industrious and infrastructural foreign policy tastes more succulent than a US foreign policy offering military bases.

Vietnam's Communist Party has carefully managed its relations with China to expand its economy, while also enhancing its military cooperation with the US for security. Regardless of the TPP, Vietnam is opening its economy to the world, and as its annual export growth this year is expected to be 8 percent, the loss of the TPP won't stunt the country's textiles, seafood and footwear sectors.

The US and Vietnam, the two long-time war foes, in recent years have witnessed a rapid rapprochement because of growing fissures between Hanoi and Beijing over the South China Sea disputes. Just because the TPP is going to be torn apart doesn't mean Vietnam's new dynamic with the US is going to falter.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said, "We are ready to cooperate with the US for co-development on the principles of respecting independence, territorial sovereignty and causing no harm to each other." Does that sound unforthcoming?

Vietnam actually stands to benefit from the game among big powers in the South China Sea. Vietnam is already enhancing its cooperation with many countries simultaneously, such as Russia, Japan, India, and Australia.

For Washington, the Vietnam War was seen as the key to prevent the "domino effect" of the spread of the ideology of communism, preventing the communist takeover of Southeast Asian countries. The US saw its heinous lost war as a Cold War containment policy. Today's Asia-Pacific rebalancing isn't an ideological containment, but rather a hegemonic policy trying to smother a new hegemon and economic pole, and Vietnam is the most strategic asset in its containment policy.

Vietnam was economically included in the original TTP plan, and diplomatically able to support the Philippines' arbitration case against China, although this is moot now because the Philippines will bilaterally negotiate with China. Vietnam is still militarily valuable.

The US has rescinded its arms embargo on Vietnam, and increased financial support for Hanoi's maritime self-development. Vietnam could have fully aligned with the US like Japan, but without unbridled access to the US market through the TPP, why bother?

Vietnam's flexibility enables it to evade a direct confrontation with China and remain aloof regarding South China Sea arbitration. And thanks to that flexibility, Vietnam isn't in Japan's position of detachment from China, and has increased its strategic importance and ability to haggle with the US.

China needs to promote its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as it's going to cover around 50 percent the world's population and 30 percent of global GDP. Most Asian countries already have preferential access to China's markets under the China-ASEAN free trade agreement of 2010, but the reach of the RCEP could entice Vietnam as long as China respects Vietnam's desire for flexibility and cultural resistance to all powers near and far.
 
Regional trade pack, with or without vietnam, no big difference, china can cover all the things viet have.
But if without viet, viet will cry.
Vietnam is careful now. Even Pinoy has turn smart by embracing China. Same as Malaysia. Vietnam will not be the only one lose out by going against China alone.
 
Even though Vietnam tried to pull a fast one I still welcome them back.

They might be a little backstabbing runt of a sibling but still family.
No reason to fo back wt CN when CN economy still falling. We just wanna make sure that US will not side wt CN to harm VN like in 1979.

CN alone simply can not stop our expansion to the West and South.:coffee:
 
respect to a gorilla, you have a good heart :-)
:o: weren't you and your jungle brothers anti China? the hatred you guys showed is well documented here. You Viets are really something :lol: , oh well we know you guys real nature that's enough dealing with our subordinate :rofl:
 
:o: weren't you and your jungle brothers anti China? the hatred you guys showed is well documented here. You Viets are really something :lol: , oh well we know you guys real nature that's enough dealing with our subordinate :rofl:
Read my posts. When I joined this forum, I had been for a long while very nice toward Chinese and your country. Well, until some Chinese posters here behaved so badly angering me. But nevertheless my post remain reasonable swinging from positive to negative. Yes, unlike the Japanese, we the people of Vietnam have never seen you as good slaves.

But we are off topic.

Vietnam trade with China this year reaches $100 billions. That is a reason to celebrate. I won't wonder if we will double the figure in 5 years should the relationship continue to improve.
 
Read my posts. When I joined this forum, I had been for a long while very nice toward Chinese and your country. Well, until some Chinese posters here behaved so badly angering me. But nevertheless my post remain reasonable swinging from positive to negative. Yes, unlike the Japanese, we the people of Vietnam have never seen you as good slaves.

But we are off topic.

Vietnam trade with China this year reaches $100 billions. That is a reason to celebrate. I won't wonder if we will double the figure in 5 years should the relationship continue to improve.

Chinese slaves? Looks more like you Viets are slaves serving China :lol: history cannot be washed away the millenium domination of Vietnam is a fact :enjoy:
 
TPP is only one game.

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1437

TPP or not, Vietnam will continue integration
  • Viet Nam News/ANN
Hanoi | Mon, November 14, 2016 | 06:39 pm
2016_02_10_627_1455088990._large.jpg


A Chilean police officer approaches a man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask to ask him for proof of identification before the start of a demonstration against the signing of the global free-trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, outside La Moneda presidential palace, in Santiago on Feb. 4, 2016. (Associated Press/Esteban Felix)

Vietnam will continue with its reform process to improve business and the investment environment to support enterprises and negotiate other agreements regardless of whether US president-elect Donald Trump thwarts the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to the Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Tuan Anh.

Trump, who opposes the TPP trade pact, has won the US presidential election, and several experts believe that the Republican victory would put an end to this trade agreement.

The minister told the press on the sidelines of the ongoing National Assembly that Vietnam was consistent with its point of view and policy in the international integration. The TPP was one of the free trade deals that Vietnam had agreed to participate in, but it would proceed with other free trade agreements (FTAs) to create opportunities for companies to fuel economic growth.

The minister said it was too early to forecast the future of TPP, and the country was ready for integration with or without it.

If the TPP agreement continued to be implemented favorably, it would bring several benefits to Vietnam in various sectors. The country’s key export products, such as textile, garment, footwear, and seafood, would likely gain breakthroughs in export value to the US, Japan and Canada. On the other hand, if the TPP was not approved, Vietnam still had other export markets, Anh added.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh stated at the Vietnam Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City early this month that with Vietnam signing the TPP agreement, the country hoped to intensify trade ties with Asia-Pacific countries and create more business opportunities for Vietnam and the other TPP members.

Therefore, Vietnam looks forwards to the ratification of the trade deal by all member countries, including the US.

He said if the TPP was not passed due to any reasons, it would be considered a setback, as countries spent much time and effort on the negotiation process. He, however, also noted that besides the TPP, Vietnam had concluded FTAs with several other partners, such as the European Union and the Eurasia Economic Union.

Vietnam and other ASEAN nations are preparing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership FTAs. In addition, members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are negotiating an FTA in the region.

Moreover, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai stated at the summit that 10 FTAs, including Vietnam as a signatory, had come into force. One FTA will come into effect soon, and several others are on the negotiating table.

Hai stressed that with or without the trade deal, Vietnam’s economic policy towards international integration would remain unchanged.

Hai said before negotiating the TPP, Vietnam had taken part in multilateral organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). The domestic business environment has been improved, and the nation has stepped up investment restructuring, encouraged the private sector and strengthened management of public debt to pursue sustainable growth.

According to economist Ngo Tri Long, in the global trend, no country can stand alone. Vietnam should prepare the best plan to deal with worst possible scenarios and should not totally depend on the TPP.

In another development, Japan’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed the contentious free trade deal.

President Barack Obama championed the 12-nation, deal saying it would enable the US to set the global trade agenda in the face of the increasing Chinese economic clout.

Besides Japan and the US, the TPP includes 10 other countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. If it were to come into full force, it would account for an enormous 40 percent of the global economy.

This article appeared on the Viet Nam News newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
 
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Just have to make sure Trump is officially the president to officially end the TPP.

They are having power transition problems...

So far it was so good because even the regime changed hands between GOP and Dems, it was a simple elite game to fool the masses that they actually chose somebody.

First time in recent memory, a super rich anti-establishment grabs the power, and look how transition problems the US regime suffers from.

And they used to lecture some other countries which had issues of transition when power had to change hands between complete radical opposites.

This election cycle has been a treasure mine for anti-US regime scholars.
 
They are having power transition problems...

So far it was so good because even the regime changed hands between GOP and Dems, it was a simple elite game to fool the masses that they actually chose somebody.

First time in recent memory, a super rich anti-establishment grabs the power, and look how transition problems the US regime suffers from.

And they used to lecture some other countries which had issues of transition when power had to change hands between complete radical opposites.

This election cycle has been a treasure mine for anti-US regime scholars.

The emergence of Trump (and Sanders) has fully unmasked the US and exposed their entire political system to the whole world.

The elites could hide what was really going on between Republican and Democrat elites because they were part on the establishment club.

Trump is the true anti-establishment candidate that not only exposed but called out the media, RNC and DNC as utterly corrupt to the core.

Wikileaks also had a major part. It was a combination of Trump, Sanders, Wikileaks, Twitter, Facebook, and anti-establishment media outlets.

American elites have lost control because the American people are not falling for the same media propaganda where they influence everything. Media have lost all legitimacy among the people.
 
Vietnam will rise with or without TPP

International economic experts remain upbeat about Vietnam’s economic prospects in the coming years, even without the much-heralded Trans-Pacific Partnership.

20161129001414-2.jpg


Donald Trump last week announced that he will issue an executive action on his first day in office to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), describing it as a ‘potential disaster’ for the US.

If this intention is followed through with, the 12-country trade pact-comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam-looks to be dead after eight years of negotiations, which culminated in a February 2016 signing.

Vietnam was set to become the biggest beneficiary of the TPP. The World Bank’s preliminary estimates for the 2015-2035 period suggested that the TPP could add about 8% to Vietnam’s GDP, 17% to its real exports, and 12% in its capital stock.

But dim prospects for the TPP do not spell doom for Vietnam’s continued growth. Marlene Rump, a senior economist at international economic forecasters FocusEconomics, told VIR that if there is no TPP, “Vietnam will continue its annual growth at a positive rate of above 6% per year in the coming four years.”

The firm predicts that Vietnam’s real GDP will expand by 6.4% next year, before slowing to 6.3% on average from 2018 to 2020.

According to New York-based business research group Conference Board, Vietnam’s economy is not likely to experience remarkable changes if TPP is not ratified by the US Conference Board forecasts that Vietnam’s economy will grow 6.2% in 2016 and 6.5% in 2017 without the TPP.

Given uncertainty over the TPP, the World Bank recently projected that Vietnam’s economy could rise 6% this year, 6.3% next year, and 6.3% in 2018.

According to the World Bank, the average growth rate of 6% is relatively high, especially compared with growth in the region and around the world.

The World Economic Forum last month released its forecast that Vietnam will likely grow by 6.1% this year. This is far higher than surrounding nations, such as Japan (1.3%), the Republic of Korea (0.5%), Singapore (1.7%), Indonesia (4.9%), Thailand (3.2%), and Malaysia (4.3%).

The average growth rate in Asia is expected to be 6% this year.

At the Vietnam Summit 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City last month, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said that, if the TPP is not adopted, “Vietnam will not be significantly affected, as the country’s existing trade and investment ties with the US are very good and will continue flourishing.”

Without the TPP, the US is already one of Vietnam’s biggest export markets. In this year’s first 10 months, the US remained Vietnam’s biggest goods importer, with an export turnover totalling US$31.8 billion, up 15% year-on-year. The US was also Vietnam’s sixth-largest goods supplier, with a total turnover of US$6.7 billion, up 0.6% year-on-year.

Minh noted that even if there is no TPP, Vietnam has a host of other free trade agreements (FTAs) to rely on, with partners such as the ROK, Japan, the ASEAN bloc, the European Union, and the Eurasian Economic Union.

According to FocusEconomics and Conference Board, without the TPP, FTAs such as the ones with the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU-and the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership-will underpin growth for Vietnam.

“A further positive implication of the FTAs is that they oblige the Vietnamese government to undertake economic reforms to make it eligible for them, which will improve the investor environment and business climate in Vietnam,” Rump of FocusEconomics said.

“Overall, alternative trade deals could compensate to some extent for the TPP, and FocusEconomics projects that economic activity will still be supported by surging exports if the TPP is not ratified. For 2017, FocusEconomics expects exports to grow at 10.1%,” she continued.

“Unless Trump’s administration cuts existing ties, exports are expected to continue growing, though at a slower pace than they would with the TPP. The extent of protectionist policies that could be implemented in the US is difficult to assess at this point, though they would make it more costly and difficult for Vietnam to export to the US.”

The TPP will only take effect when it is adopted by at least six signatories, which must hold at least 85% of the combined GDP that all 12 signatories generated in 2013. In 2013, the US occupied 60% of the combined GDP of the 12 member countries. In keeping with this mechanism, if the US Congress does not ratify the TPP, the agreement will not enter into force.

VIR
 

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