In a move to boost its economic profile and create a counterweight to China within Asia, the United States on Monday announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) with Asian partners, CNBC reported.
It is a broad plan designed to help expand US “economic leadership” in the Indo-Pacific region. The group wants to set international rules for the digital economy, supply chains, carbon offsets and employee regulations.
It is important that the IPEF is not a free trade agreement. US President Joe Biden is under political pressure from both the left and the right in his country to avoid free trade agreements.
It is also not a security pact and is separate from the Quad defense agreement that includes the United States, Japan, India and Australia, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.
Despite avoiding trade deals, the US wants to strengthen its economic profile in Asia, where China is the dominant country, despite the fact that US allies Japan and South Korea have large economies and India , a member of the Quad, is growing rapidly.
The United States must “strengthen its economic competitiveness in the region,” said Ali Wyne, an analyst at Eurasia Group.
“Even countries with significant and growing concerns about China’s foreign policy and strategic goals feel that they can not be effectively disconnected from its economy in the short term,” Wyne said. gain the most for the Indo-Pacific economic framework “.
Biden is in Tokyo this week and is meeting with regional leaders for IPEF and the Quad.
US officials have avoided mentioning China in the IPEF talks and deny that it is a “closed” group, as China has claimed.
China’s state-controlled Global Times reported on Saturday that “the main purpose of Biden’s trip to South Korea and Japan is to try to form a new political stance towards China by forming an alliance around Washington in its territory.” Asia-Pacific “.
Sullivan said on Sunday that he was not surprised “that China has concerns about the number of countries that have expressed interest and enthusiasm for IPEF”.
Source: Capital
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