China would want India to be one of the countries to sign RCEP: Economist

Song Hong's comments are significant given his standing in the Chinese Communist Party which gives him an influential voice in the trade negotiations of the country

China would want India to be one of the countries to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free-trade pact among 16 nations, instead of staying out, said Song Hong, deputy director general and senior fellow at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. For this, China could create a bilateral mechanism with India to generate support for the treaty, he said.

Negotiations on the RCEP between the ten Asean members and the six partner countries of India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea are in advanced stages and are expected to conclude by November. It will