The Role of RCEP In Fostering the New Development Paradigm
Entering a new stage of development，China will quicken its pace in fostering a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. This policy has been formally stated by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee. In this policy frame，international economic cooperation plays a key role in building a stronger circulation between domestic and international circulation and domestic circulation will be as the mainstay. In 2020，China and 14 other Asia-Pacific countries signed the world’s largest trade agreement-- the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This is a great move for China to better be integrated into the regional cooperation and upgraded to an economy of better quality.
It is worthy of being noted that the failure of WTO Doha Round negotiations has hindered the process of world trade and investment liberalization. However，some countries began to build trade barriers and adopted one-sided industrial return policies，which has intensified the uncertainty of the global economic and trade system and objectively enhanced the necessity and urgency of signing regional free trade agreements. The US-China trade friction since 2018 and the global epidemic of COVID-19 further severely damaged the globalization of trade and investment aimed at improving the efficiency of resource allocation. Many countries have begun to realize that the global value chain and supply chain should give attention to both efficiency and safety. In this context，RCEP is more realistic and feasible in the Asia-Pacific region.
Every country has close trading partners，and sign more open trade agreements with each other，which will not only consolidate the development partnership，but also promote its own economic growth. In this sense，RCEP agreement will further strengthen the East Asian production system.
New features of RCEP
The RCEP Agreement consists of a preface，20 chapters，and four market access commitment table annexes，including trade in goods，trade in services，temporary movement of natural persons，investment，intellectual property rights，e-commerce，competition，government procurement，etc. The important contents of RCEP roughly include the following three aspects: First，the overall opening level of currency trade will reach over 90% (that is，some will implement zero tariff，others will implement zero tariff within ten years)，and the opening level of service trade and investment will significantly exceed the original "10+1" FTA. Second，the negative list is used to negotiate investment access. Third，China and Japan，as well as Japan and Korea，have reached a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) through RCEP. The RCEP member countries build a unified trade rules and service system and accelerate intra-regional trade liberalization. When foreign investors enter any member country，they are equivalent to entering the whole region. This paper focuses on two characteristics of RCEP which are different from other protocols.
First，the rules of origin. According to international trade laws and regulations，importers should provide certificates of origin in bilateral or multilateral free trade agreements to enjoy tax benefits. According to RCEP，except for "completely acquired or produced goods"，it is also stipulated that if the raw materials from RCEP member countries (could more than two) are processed，they can be regarded as the goods of the country of origin that can enjoy preferential tax rates. Some previous regional free trade agreements only allow bilateral accumulation. For example，when a member country's products export to another member country，only semi-finished products between the two countries can be accumulated，while other countries in the region are not allowed to be accumulated. That is，regional values cannot be accumulated among members of the agreement. RCEP stipulates the rule of "regional value component calculation"，that is，the value in each member country can be accumulated to 40%.
Second，a new breakthrough in free trade agreements among China，Japan and Republic of Korea (or South Korea). East Asia supply chain is one of the three major supply chains in the world. Japan，South Korea，and China are the core members of this chain. Industrial technology complementarity is greater than competitiveness among them，and this helps promote the continuous quality upgrading of supply chain. However，none of the three countries have signed free trade agreements with each other. RCEP brings the breakthrough of China-Japan FTA. China has signed free trade agreements with 10 ASEAN countries，South Korea，Australia，and New Zealand. By signing RCEP，China and Japan have established free trade relations，and it is the first time that China and Japan have reached a bilateral tariff reduction arrangement，and the first time that China has signed a free trade agreement with a world trade power. It would greatly increase the trade between China and its free trade partners to about 35%，and conducive to further strengthening the industrial complementarity between China and Japan. According to the data in UNTRADE，Japan reduced taxes on Chinese goods，mainly focusing on textiles，clothing，and agricultural products. RCEP also brings the breakthrough of Korea-Japan FTA and helps improve the reallocation of investment in East Asian supply chain. Taking Japan as an example，its FDI mainly serves the United States and East and Southeast Asia. Its investment in the United States serves the local market，and its investment in East and Southeast Asia is to improve the efficiency of vertical integration. RCEP promotes Japan's further investment in East Asia，while RCEP clauses set higher intellectual property rights，conducive to reducing Japan's concerns about countries investing in the region.
RCEP and new development paradigm
In recent years，with the changes of external environment and factor endowments of China's economic development，the kinetic energy of the "two ends outside" international circulation has changed. At present，China's external constraints have been significantly enhanced. For example，the industrial chain supply chain cycle has exposed some shortcomings，and some countries have tried their best to suppress domestic high-tech enterprises. International trade protectionism and unilateralism are prevalent frequently. At the same time，the domestic economic structure is in the transition period，the potential of domestic demand is continuously released，and the market potential can be expected. Since the international financial crisis in 2008，China's economy has been changing to the domestic cycle as the main body. From "supply-side structural reform" to "smooth national economic circulation" and then to the new development pattern of "double circulation"，from the perspective of development process，it is intended to promote high-quality economic development by promoting the adaptation of supply system and demand structure. To promote trade globalization and international circulation，we are supposed to vigorously develop regional economic cooperation. For instance，RCEP，Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) and "the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)" are all important starting points for realizing the international circulation.
Domestic demand is the starting point and core of "double circulation". To smooth the domestic "double cycle"，it is necessary to create demand through supply，and two problems need to be solved. On the one hand，