Leaders from 15 of the 16 participating countries issued a joint declaration at the Third Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit, which stated that they have concluded talks on all 20 chapters of the RCEP Agreement and all market access commitments on goods, services and investment. Negotiating teams have already kicked off text reviews, with the aim to sign the agreement in 2020, by which time, a free trade zone covering about one third of the world's population, about one third of the global GDP and the world's largest area will come into being.

RCEP negotiations were launched by the 10 ASEAN countries in 2012, along with Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand, in a bid to establish a comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial large-scale free trade zone based on a unified market of the 16 countries through the reduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

The issuing of the joint declaration signals the conclusion of the negotiations among 15 member countries (India still has some major questions on negotiations), which is a great breakthrough in the establishment of the world's most structurally diversified free trade zone, with huge development potential.

The RCEP is a potent plan to safeguard economic globalization. Since the United States began to wield the stick of tariffs and turned to trade protectionism, waves of anti-globalization are surging around the world, impacting global free trade. However, the international community's determination and confidence to safeguard free trade is strengthening instead of wavering, with RCEP negotiations a typical example.

The parties have done a tremendous amount of work and overcome various difficulties in the process of negotiations. In the past year, particularly, the process has accelerated, with members showing strong political will. During the third summit, leaders hailed the breakthrough in RCEP negotiations, hoping that their conclusion in the current situation will help to send a positive message of collective will to build an open world economy, shore up the multilateral trade mechanism, improve the regional trade and investment environment, and make trade and investment more convenient and freer to help member countries better cope with challenges and strengthen the potential of future regional development.

China has always played a proactive and constructive role in RCEP negotiations, while the ASEAN countries played a central role in the negotiations. Against the complex backdrop of anti-globalization, China has always been a strong backstop for the central role of ASEAN in the negotiations, which finally borne fruit despite diversity in politics, economy, development levels, as well as history and traditional cultures.

All this has showcased China's determination and confidence in safeguarding economic globalization. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for an early conclusion of an RCEP agreement on occasions like the opening ceremony of the First China International Import Expo and the recent G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, among others. Xi has also exchanged views on the RCEP with leaders from relevant countries. Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang has participated in the RCEP summits for three consecutive years, expounding on China's propositions and views on RCEP negotiations, which has injected confidence and dynamism into the negotiations for their final success.

The conclusion of RCEP negotiations is a boon to the world economy and trade. In the context of rising global unilateralism, protectionism, a global economic downturn and a sharp trade slowdown, the RCEP, as the world's largest free trade agreement, will help boost investors' and people's confidence in the world economy.

This will surely have a profound impact on the formation of future global economic and trade rules. Investors from outside the RCEP region currently have to deal with various sets of rules when they come into the region. But in the future, they will only have to face one set of unified rules for the whole region, which means a bigger market potential and room for future development.

Unified rules will greatly help regional industrial and commercial communities as well as import and export companies to reduce operation costs and various risks facing business operations. The construction of regional supply and value chains will also create new opportunities. When these chains take shape in accordance with comparative advantages in the region, the flow of commodities, technology, services, capital and trans-border personnel will become more convenient. Within the region, all businesses can take part in the accumulation value of provenance, which will help to promote mutual regional investment and trade.

China's exports to the other 14 RCEP countries which are poised to sign the agreement was $620 billion in 2018, while its imports were $760 billion, that is, its trade volume with these countries accounted for 28 percent of China's total foreign trade for the year. Thus, after the signing of the agreement in 2020, the Chinese market will provide more opportunities to RCEP countries, along with investors and businesses from outside the region, helping to bolster global economic growth.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

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