The world currently has 5 blocs of nations that are essentially economic alliances, formed to promote free trade and lower tariffs between member countries. There are also 9 military alliances, designed to promote peace and mutual defense, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But what if the world could have both? What if we could combine the economic opportunities offered by economic alliances with the security provided by military ones? What would that look like? Would this mean more cooperation or less conflict? What changes would we need to make in order to accomplish this?
In contrast to security and defence alliances, which might make the world “more dangerous,” countries should form more economic alliances, according to the Center for China and Globalization’s president on Tuesday.
A slide toward deglobalization, which would impede global economic progress, might be avoided by doing that as well. Henry Wang stated at the SALT iConnections conference in Singapore that the United States may think about joining — or “re-joining” — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
According to Wang, the United States “is the mood of globalisation” and “has always taken the lead on globalisation.”
It was unfortunate to see the United States leave the Trans-Pacific Partnership since it “established higher criteria for international commerce, including the digital economy, as well as trade liberalisation and investment facilitation.”
According to Wang, there should be more informal strategic partnerships like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and less official alliances like the AUKUS and the Five Eyes.
“I hope that the United States has now resolved this issue, we can go towards economic, global alliances rather than have a lot of security, military, and defence alliances which will make us more and more dangerous,” Wang added.
The CPTPP, originally known as the TPP, was a component of the US’s geopolitical and economic shift to Asia.
After it received criticism from the protectionist wing of the American political spectrum, former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the trade agreement in 2017.
After additional TPP signatories persisted in the agreement, the TPP later changed into the CPTPP. With applicants like China, it is currently among the largest trading blocs in the world.
The United States has not said that it would like to rejoin the CPTPP. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a network of non-trade links between Asia and the Pacific, was instead established.
On the same panel, Nicolas Aguzin, CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange HKEX, echoed Wang’s assertion that the globalisation of commerce had brought the East and West closer together.
“I mean, it had kept costs pretty low throughout the world in a number of sectors; we had productivity,” he said, adding that given how intricately interwoven global supply chains are, he doubts deglobalization would ever take place.
