China's cross-regional FTA initiatives: Towards comprehensive national power

This article surveys the recent initiation of free trade talks by China. Of particular interest are the motives driving this innovation, particularly as regards negotiations with distant rather than regional partners, known as cross-regional trade agreements or CRTAs, This investigation is guided by the conceptual analysis presented by Solis and Katada in this issue of Pacific Affairs. The authors find that the initiation of cross-regional preferential trading links allows the Chinese leadership to speed up economic development, to hedge against future trade diversion in other regions of the world, to pursue domestic reform at their own chosen pace, to develop negotiating expertise in a less tense political environment, and to advance core interests in foreign economic policy and security policy by validating the concept of a peaceful rise to power. China's recent pursuit of cross-regional FTAs is thus significant not only for the economic benefits they promise but also for their enhancement of China's national power and capacity for international leadership without provoking conflict. As a supplement to China's diplomacy, cross-regional FTA negotiations must be recognized as an important new element of China's long-term international strategy.