A Pan-Asian FTA?
Can't see it happening just yet - both China and India still have a long way to go before their economies are truly liberalised, though the PRC is perhaps a bit ahead. But at least the idea is out there, and aid'n'trade may be better than the niggly conflicts of the last 50 years.
China pushes India for free-trade pact- The Times of India
"Following reopening of the trade post on the Indian-Chinese border, our government is considering FTA talks with India," Chinese assistant minister of commerce Fu Ziying said at a recent meeting of the 2007 China Industrial Development Forum in Beijing. The two countries recently reopened cross-border trade at the Himalayan Nathu La Pass last July, 44 years after the trade ended in the wake of a short border war between them.
India has filed the largest number of patent violation cases against Chinese companies at the World Trade Organisation. Chinese leaders feel that the main reason for this is that New Delhi refuses to recognise China as a free market economy. However, most western countries have taken the same stand saying that China highly subsidies its exportable products and cannot be regarded as free market economy.
