China and the RCEP: the new centre of world trade
China will use the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to consolidate its hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. This triumph of regionalism in Asia is a sign of a change in the correlation of forces in the international system; Western multilateralism, driven by the United States, remains in crisis and shows no signs of recovery. The centre of world trade is in the RCEP countries with the leadership of the Asian Giant.