Features of China’s participation in regional economic integration

Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has been actively pursuing bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements with both developing and developed countries, focusing on regional partners. These agreements have a great influence on the trade policy of the PRC. As practice has shown, they have a positive impact on the development of the country’s foreign trade and organically fi t into the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. At the same time, in China’s approach to concluding such agreements, certain features can be traced, which are the subject of this article. It examines the essence of regional trade agreements concluded by China with its partners, showing that China’s approach to the liberalization of foreign economic relations is carefully thought out and gradual, but at the same time active and consistent. The article also pays attention to China’s participation in megaregional projects in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in interstate associations (APEC, BRICS) and organizations (SCO) that have the potential to establish barrier-free trade and economic cooperation between member countries. China has already proposed creating an SCO free trade zone. An agreement on trade and economic cooperation has been concluded between the PRC and the EAEU. This agreement may become the basis for further deepening trade and economic cooperation between the parties. At the same time, trade liberalization can occur gradually, over a long transition period, without affecting particularly sensitive goods, as happens under the terms of the China-ASEAN agreement. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative, China is pursuing a policy of trade liberalization with an increasing number of foreign economic partners around the world. China is negotiating new free trade agreements and updating old ones, which indicates a long-term trend in the country’s foreign economic policy.