China and the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) have agreed to start negotiations on the establishment of a joint free trade area, the Financial Times said. The new grouping should be in operation within the next 10 years.
The deal was announced at the Asean annual meeting held in Brunei in November 2001, having been floated by China’s Premier Zhu Rongji at the previous meeting in Singapore. Talks are continuing on the extension of the free trade area to Japan and South Korea, but are unlikely to be completed before the 2002 summit meeting in Cambodia