ASEAN-China Free Trade Area: A Bane or Boon for ASEAN Countries?

摘要

China's export structure is similar in many respects to the ASEAN countries'. China's top exports accounting for about 84 per cent of its total exports (i.e. apparel and textiles, footwear, chemicals, machinery and appliances, miscellaneous manufactures, vegetable products, base metal and metal products and mineral products) are also ASEAN's major exports, although the order of importance varies from country to country. More intense competition is, therefore, expected between ASEAN and China in the third-country markets and ASEAN domestic markets, particularly in the market for apparel and textiles, footwear, machinery and electrical appliances and miscellaneous manufactures, with the establishment of a free trade area.