Free trade pacts will drive economic growth

Despite the rising trend of protectionism and unilateralism in 2018, China supported and participated in various free trade agreements in East Asia. At the 20th ASEAN Plus Three summit in 2017, all the parties supported Premier Li Keqiang's proposal to build an East Asian Economic Community and said they would deepen cooperation to achieve that goal as early as possible.

Accordingly, the countries in the region are focusing on the dual pillars of trade and development - the 10+3 cooperation mechanism and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The 10+3(the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) cooperation mechanism doesn't have an official name, but it has boosted trade between ASEAN and the three countries to such an extent that it now accounts for nearly 50 of their total. It has also helped increase investment dramatically.