General

At a time when the wave of digital economy is sweeping the world, the integration of digital technology and international trade is deepening, and digital trade has become a new force in the development of international trade. Looking at the world, where is the most dynamic region for digital trade development? The non-RCEP area is none other than that. Studies have shown that the RCEP digital trade ecosystem has initially taken shape, and it is time for all parties to focus on improving the national digital trade ecosystem in the RCEP region.

Judging from the terms of RCEP, it is very important to e-commerce. The RCEP e-commerce chapter is the first comprehensive and high-level plurilateral e-commerce rule achievement reached in the Asia-Pacific region. This not only inherits some traditional e-commerce rules, but also reaches an important consensus on cross-border information transmission and data localization for the first time, providing institutional guarantee for members to strengthen cooperation in the field of e-commerce, and is conducive to creating a good environment for e-commerce development and enhancing The mutual trust in policies, mutual recognition of regulations and interoperability of enterprises in the field of e-commerce among members have greatly promoted the development of e-commerce in the region.

Judging from the situation after its implementation, RCEP has huge potential for digital trade development, which is determined by the following six driving forces.

First, it is driven by a huge market. RCEP is the largest free trade area in the world. It covers 29.7% of the world's population, 28.9% of GDP, and the two largest markets in the world, China and ASEAN. The "China Digital Economy Development Report (2022)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that from 2016 to 2021, the scale of my country's digital economy will increase from 22.6 trillion yuan to 45.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.01 times, and the total volume will be ranked No. 1 in the world. Second, the proportion of GDP is 39.8%.

Second, it is driven by trade in goods. After the RCEP came into effect, the intra-regional trade volume continued to rise. Among them, China's trade in goods has withstood the blow of the epidemic and achieved sustained growth. In the first half of 2022, the total import and export volume between my country and RCEP members reached 6,042.31 billion yuan, of which imports were 3,028.28 billion yuan and exports were 3,014.03 billion yuan, an increase of 17.8% and 5.6% respectively over the same period last year. Looking at Cambodia, the total value of goods exported to RCEP member countries in the first quarter increased by 11%, and the total value of exports to the other 14 RCEP members reached US$1.956 billion.

The third is driven by policies and institutions. China has attached great importance to the development of the digital economy in recent years. The Party Central Committee and the State Council have formed a systematic deployment for the development of the digital economy, the top-level strategic planning system of the digital economy has gradually become more complete, and the industry and local governments have formed a systematic synergy to implement relevant strategic deployments. my country's digital economy development already has strong policy and institutional advantages. In particular, on July 25, 2022, the State Council issued a letter agreeing that the National Development and Reform Commission should lead the establishment of an inter-ministerial joint meeting system for the development of the digital economy, marking the improvement of the top-level design of the digital economy. In the future, my country will be more systematic and comprehensive. Promote the implementation of the digital economy strategy. Other RCEP countries have also introduced plans and policies to promote the development of the digital economy.

Fourth, it is driven by technological development. In recent years, the rapid promotion and application of new-generation information technologies such as big data, blockchain, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence have laid a solid industrial foundation for the development of digital trade. The digital trade platform improves the efficiency of logistics management with the help of smart warehousing and distribution under the Internet of Things technology; reduces the threshold for financing credit through the application of blockchain technology in the financial field; and forms market predictions with the advantages of big data accumulation. The new generation of information technology applications will continue to promote the rapid development of digital trade, and facilitate the efficient coordination and circulation of business flow, information flow, logistics and capital flow in digital trade.

Fifth, it is driven by infrastructure. In terms of traditional infrastructure, since China proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative, the infrastructure connectivity between China and RCEP countries has been further deepened. For example, as of now, the total number of rail-sea intermodal trains in the new western land-sea channel has reached 20,000. From January to July this year, the channel shipped 92,000 TEUs of foreign trade goods, an increase of 52% over the same period in 2021; China-Laos railway freight trains The fastest journey takes only 30 hours, and the transportation cost is reduced by 40% to 50%. It can be expected that with the entry into force of RCEP, a new wave of infrastructure construction will come. In terms of digital infrastructure, China can be said to lead the RCEP region. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that my country has built the world's largest fiber-optic broadband network, capable of covering 320 million households, and more than 1.6 million 5G base stations have been built. The rest of the RCEP countries are also increasing their investment in digital infrastructure.

Sixth, it is driven by capital investment. According to iResearch's "Global Digital Trade White Paper" in 2021, the role of the industrial Internet in economic transformation has been increasing in the past five years, and capital has continued to flow into industries where the industrial Internet and traditional industries are integrated and developed, contributing to the rapid development of digital industry platforms. Provided strong financial support.

Just as the potential of the digital economy lies in the combination with the real economy, digital trade is not only the flow of data services and content, but also the digital content of traditional trade, which runs through all aspects of product design, manufacturing, trading, transportation, promotion, and sales. In the future, to improve the RCEP digital trade development ecology, on the one hand, it will be benchmarked against high-standard free trade agreements such as CPTPP and DEPA, and on the other hand, it needs to face developing countries in RCEP and propose product design, manufacturing, trading, transportation, promotion, sales, data. Digital trade solutions in terms of circulation, etc., examine all the terms of RCEP from the perspective of digital trade ecological development.

In 2016, the financing amount in the e-commerce 2B field accounted for 36%, and the financing amount in the 2C field accounted for 64%. In 2021, the amount of financing in the 2B field of e-commerce will account for 51%, an increase of 15% compared with 2016; while the amount of financing in the 2C field will drop by 15% compared with 2016, accounting for 49%, and the two fields are not much different.

From the perspective of the above six driving forces, the future RCEP region needs to further optimize the business environment in terms of customs clearance facilitation, investment liberalization, digital infrastructure, general infrastructure, cross-border logistics system, cross-border data flow, intellectual property protection, etc. , to further promote the vigorous development of RCEP digitalization. Judging from the current situation, factors such as cross-border data flow, regional infrastructure level differentiation, and lack of digital economy talent reserves restrict the development of regional digital trade. To this end, the author puts forward the following four suggestions:

The first is to promote Chinese enterprises to use RCEP provisions to achieve better layout. On the one hand, we will promote high-quality “going out” of logistics companies, infrastructure companies, digital economy platform companies, and digital service companies, so as to make better distribution in the region and smooth digital international trade channels; on the other hand, we will further improve business services for small and medium-sized enterprises and effectively Strengthen the provision of high-quality training for enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, on RCEP terms, certificate of origin applications, etc., timely publicize relevant national policy changes and market information in the RCEP region, provide high-quality various business services, and enhance the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises level, and help international trade enterprises to open up the market.

Second, governments of various countries should strengthen cross-border supervision cooperation, create a more open, active and inclusive market environment and supervision environment, and help the healthy and sustainable development of cross-border trade in the region. For example, research and promote the establishment of interconnection mechanisms for cross-border payment systems in various countries, smooth settlement channels, improve the timeliness of cross-border payments, explore allowing payment institutions that meet certain conditions to access payment systems in various countries, improve local settlement efficiency, and reduce business costs.

The third is to cultivate and attract more digital trade talents. Actively promote the establishment of an interdisciplinary and more operational digital economy higher education and vocational education system, strengthen the combination of production, education and research, and provide more talents for enterprises; improve supporting services, create a more suitable environment for the production and life of international talents, and attract more International talents settled.

The fourth is to create a typical case of digital-real integration, enhance mutual trust among all parties, and lay the foundation for better cross-border data flow. Promote enterprises to make good use of the advantages of massive data and rich application scenarios in the RCEP national market, and create typical cases of digital-real integration in the local area, which is conducive to enterprise restructuring and utilization of global factor resources, empowers the transformation and upgrading of local traditional industries, and spawns new industries and new formats. The new model is also conducive to firmly binding its own interests with the interests of local users, establishing a corporate brand, reducing resistance to cross-border data flow, and thus better developing the RCEP market.

At the moment when the global political and economic structure is being reshaped, countries around the world are always paying attention to the development of RCEP, the world's largest free trade zone. If the RCEP region achieves new breakthroughs in the development of digital trade, especially strengthening mutual trust in cross-border data flow, it will further demonstrate the Asia-Pacific region's commitment to adhere to multilateralism and adhere to the path of regional economic integration, and contribute to the development of global international trade and investment. It brings certain factors and promotes the further development of economic globalization.