Ambassador Chiba’s letter to the editor of the Jakarta Post regarding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) Agreement

2019/12/23
On December 13, Ambassador Chiba’s letter to the editor of the Jakarta Post against its article dated December 4 titled RCEP is about ASEANs initiative, not Chinas” was posted on the “LETTER TO EDITOR” section in the Jakarta Post as below.
            
Japan Mission to ASEAN Responds

With regard to the Dec. 4 article titled RCEP is about ASEANs initiative, not Chinas” by Mr. Rocky Intan, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the Government of Japan’s unwavering commitment to realize the Regional Comprehensive Economic partnership (RCEP).
            The 16 countries including India, under ASEAN centrality, have been proceeding with the RCEP negotiations for over seven years. I believe none of us intends to exclude India from the RCEP. In fact, the Joint Leader’s Statement on the RCEP announced on Nov. 4 in Bangkok that “India has significant outstanding issues, which remain unresolved. All RCEP Participating Countries will work together to resolve these outstanding issues in a mutually satisfactory way.” This collective effort should be seriously pursued and promoted.
            In the firm belief that the participation of India, an enormous emerging market, will maximize the potential of regional and global economic integration, Japan has been working to resolve these issues, in cooperation with ASEAN and other countries, and will further strengthen our efforts to do so.
        Japan is committed to playing a leading role towards the signing of the RCEP Agreement by all 16 countries in 2020.
 
Related links:
・Insight: RCEP is about ASEANs initiative, not Chinas (the Jakarta Post online article)
 https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/12/04/insight-rcep-is-about-aseans-initiative-not-chinas.html
・Letter to editor: Japan mission to ASEAN responds (the Jakarta Post online article)
 https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/12/13/letter-editor-japan-mission-asean-responds.html