Source: Channel News Asia

The process of reforming and opening up the Chinese economy has accelerated under the new leadership, said Carnegie's Yukon Huang, speaking on Channel NewsAsia. The reappointment of Zhou Xiaochuan as central bank director sends a positive signal in this regard, and specific policies to liberalize interest rates, encourage more capital inflows, and open entry to foreign banks have already been introduced.

With respect to trade liberalization, Huang said that perspectives on the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal are shifting in China. Beijing realizes that of the three major trade agreements under negotiation (the TPP, the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Parternship, and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), the TPP discussions are most advanced and have potentially important impacts on international trade norms. Several sensitive issues that are of interest to China are being negotiated in the TPP, including treatment of state-owned enterprises, government procurement policy, and labor and environmental standards.

It was previously thought that China was not ready to move on these issues, Huang said, but leaders in Beijing increasingly realize that every country has sensitive trade issues. He cited the example of protected agricultural sectors in Canada, the United States, and Japan, all members of the TPP negotiations. Developing countries are much more inclined to support open trade regimes than they were a decade ago, Huang added. This gives China more confidence to enter the TPP, as its policies are no more restrictive than others and it is even more keen on open trade.

This interview originally appeared in Channel News Asia.