Asian leaders to sign China-backed trade deal amid U.S. election uncertainty

By James Pearson
HANOI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian leaders start
meetings on Thursday that are expected to lead to an ambitious
China-backed trade deal at a time the still uncertain election
result in the United States leaves questions over its engagement
in the region.
Leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New
Zealand are scheduled to conclude talks on the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this Sunday.
The deal, which is expected to be signed later on Sunday on
the sidelines of a mostly online, four-day ASEAN summit in
Hanoi, will take years to complete but will progressively lower
tariffs across many areas and could become the world's biggest
trade agreement.
The 15 participating RCEP countries make up nearly a third
of the world's people and account for 29% of global gross
domestic product. China is already the biggest source of imports
and destination for exports for would-be RCEP members.
"The signing of RCEP will provide momentum for regional
trade, particularly between signatories," said Nguyen Quoc Dung,
deputy foreign minister of Vietnam, which is chairing ASEAN
meetings this year.
The summit comes while the result of the U.S. presidential
election has yet to be declared despite Democrat Joe Biden
projected to have comfortably won the 270 electoral votes needed
for victory.
Biden, who was vice president during President Barack
Obama's "Asian pivot", is expected to steer away from Trump's
"America First" agenda and re-engage more actively in the
region.
But legal challenges to the election result and the firing
of the U.S. defense secretary by Trump risk raising concerns
among U.S. allies at a time that China's influence is growing.
Trump's tariff-raising trade war with China has given extra
impetus in recent years to push ahead with the RCEP, which had
otherwise progressed only sluggishly since negotiations began in
2012.
The deal, which is expected to be the most significant
agreement at this year's ASEAN summit, will likely cement
China's position more firmly as an economic partner with
Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, and put it in a better position
to shape the region's trade rules.
"The uncertainty regarding the U.S. election raises
questions regarding U.S. participation in relevant meetings and
may give China a chance to influence the narrative about
America's engagement with the region," said Le Hong Hiep, a
fellow at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.