ISDS Case Map
China
China is pushing for a free trade agreement (FTA) with India which, it claims, would result in the biggest free trade region in the world.
China and Australia may be one step nearer to launching talks on a free trade agreement (FTA), and a feasibility study to be released this month strongly proposes the deal.
As the prospect of Australia and China negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) appears increasingly likely, China has flagged that Australian farmers may not get all they wish for.
China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have initiated the non-government joint study on the feasibility of free trade agreement (FTA), announced Wang Mengkui, director of the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) here Monday.
Prime Minister John Howard said tonight Australia would continue to have strong trade links to China even if a free trade agreement could not be settled.
Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Juan B. Santos said there is no rush in the proposed bilateral free-trade agreement with the US noting the country's trade with the US is slowly losing steam while gaining markets elsewhere particularly, ASEAN, Japan and Greater China.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout has warned Chinese officials that intellectual piracy could be a critical block to plans for a free trade agreement, with international agencies estimating that 90 per cent of copyright goods sold in China are counterfeit.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary General Erastus Mwencha said his organization is looking forward to strengthening its relations with China, particularly in the area of trade and investment. He declined to elaborate on details of the trade agreement, but implied that it will be something like the Economic Partnership Agreement being negotiated by COMESA with the European Union or the Africa Growth Opportunity Act of the United States.
Australia should not try to raise human rights issues with China if formal talks about a free trade agreement begin, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says. "You won't get the free trade agreement and you won't get any improvements in human rights."
Prime Minister John Howard says there is a good chance Australia will begin negotiating with China on a free trade deal. China is Australia's third largest trading partner and the Government says if an agreement is signed it could be worth tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy.
