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The inclusion of environmental provisions in regional trade agreements is conducive to protecting the environment, but it may also inhibit trade liberalization. How to protect the environment and promote trade development deserves further study. This paper used the regional trade agreements signed and entered into force as well as bilateral export data from 67 countries along the Belt and Road from 1995 to 2018, and innovatively constructed and quantified three indicators of the depth of environmental provisions according to the classification of environmental provisions in the TREND database. The study also constructed a high-dimensional fixed-effect model and empirically tested the impact of the depth of these environmental provisions on exports by PPML estimation. The results showed that: ①The total depth, core depth, and enforcement of environmental provisions had a significant inhibitory effect on export trade, and the depth of environmental provisions with enforceability had a greater inhibitory effect on exports. ②This conclusion was still valid after considering potential endogenous problems and conducting a series of robustness tests, such as re-measuring core explanatory variables and dividing sample intervals. ③Heterogeneity analysis found that increasing the depth of environmental provisions only significantly inhibited exports in the samples of' South-North' and' North-South' countries and the export share of dirty products, but the impact of specific clauses on export trade varied greatly. ④Mechanism testing showed that the depth of environmental provisions inhibited exports mainly by increasing production costs and inhibiting technological innovation. ⑤Further extended analysis showed that there was an inverted-N relationship between the depth of environmental provisions measured by quantity and exports, and the gap in domestic environmental regulations in member countries would strengthen the export inhibition effect of environmental provisions. This paper provides policy implications for promoting trade development and environmentally friendly and high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in countries along the Belt and Road. These countries can appropriately increase the depth of environmental provisions in future negotiations for signing new RTAs or upgrading existing RTAs, and give full play to the' innovative compensation effect' of environmental provisions. At the same time, they should actively expand regional trade agreements, give priority to countries with similar economic development levels, and focus on the specific clauses of RTA environmental provisions in future trade agreement negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new era, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core has profound insight into the international situation, accurately measures the historical position of China, effectively takes both the domestic and international situations into consideration, and creatively proposes a series of new ideas for international economic cooperation. China's vision for international economic cooperation in the new era has distinct features of the time and rich connotations. It includes building an open world economy, achieving mutual benefit and win-win for all countries, jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and creating a new model of international economic cooperation. China puts forward global development initiatives and promotes the building of a global development community with a shared future. China adheres to open regionalism and promotes regional economic cooperation. By practicing multilateralism, reforming and improving the global economic governance system, China has further enriched and developed the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Led by China's vision of international economic cooperation in the new era, China has made outstanding achievements in its economic cooperation with other countries, creating a favorable external environment for promoting a new round of high-level opening-up and achieving high-quality development. It also provided important guidance for building an open world economy and a community with a shared future for mankind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework” proposed by the Biden administration is the economic pillar of its Indo-Pacific Strategy. The framework aims to strengthen economic cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, reshape and lead regional economic integration, enhance its strategic maneuver, restrict China’s economic development and contain China’s rise. Despite many uncertainties, the “IndoPacific Economic Framework” is not a free trade agreement. It will disrupt the regional supply chain, hinder the development of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, and pose challenges to the long-term stability and prosperity of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background—China's trade status and trade security of wood products are now facing challenges. At the same time, the RCEP agreement was officially signed in November 2020. Therefore, it is of great significance to grasp the topological structure of the wood product trade network between China and other RCEP members, as well as the status of China in it and the changes in its status. (2) Methods—Based on the import and export trade data of wood products in 15 RCEP members from 2001 to 2018, social network methods are used to study and analyze the trade network pattern of wood products in RCEP members. (3) Results—①Affected by the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 and the global financial crisis in 2008, the trade network density, degree and strength of wood products in RCEP members have all declined, and the trade relations of RCEP wood products have been loosen and trade volume has been dropped. However, the signing, coming into force and upgrading of free trade agreements among RCEP members have strengthened the trade relations of wood products among RCEP members. The wood products trade network of RCEP members is developing towards the optimal network form, and the trade exchanges between countries tend to be balanced. ②After RCEP takes effect in the future, the trade network density of wood products in RCEP members is expected to reach 1. And RCEP members are expected to have a degree of 14, which means that there is trade in wood products among all countries. The connectivity of the wood products trade network will be greatly improved and the intensity of each country will gradually increase. After the RCEP takes effect, the regional economic integration will be further deepened, and a country can more reasonably allocate the trade volume to different countries. China is likely to become the only core country, and it is in the highest position in the wood products trade network of RCEP members. ③The trade volume of RCEP wood products has little influence on the connectivity and tightness of the network. From the overall trend, the trade of wood products among RCEP members is gradually increasing, but the range is not large. On the whole, there is still room for development in the connectivity of the wood products trade network of RCEP members. ④Trade in wood products among RCEP members tends to be balanced. ⑤With the increasing core of the trade network, China has gradually become the only core country. (4) Conclusions and Discussions—Facing the current complex international situation, RCEP has an important stabilizing and balancing effect on China's wood product trade, and provides new opportunities for the development of China's wood product trade. However, it is not enough to rely on exogenous factors to promote the promotion of China's trade status. The mode of obtaining meagre trade benefits through the expansion of export scale is no longer sustainable. Therefore, on the one hand. China must attach importance to the market of RCEP members to stabilize China's trade status and take it as an opportunity to promote a higher level of opening up and promote global trade liberalization. On the other hand, it is even more important that China's wood products should develop endogenously, relying on quality, brand, technology, management innovation, etc. to increase the added value of products. The status of the value chain division of labor should be improved through high-quality development, and he mutual promotion of domestic and international cycles can be realized by implementing a dual-cycle strategy, which is necessary to enhance international competitiveness, and obtain higher trade profits, so as to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of China's wood product trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production-living-ecological space is a typical spatial carrier to coordinate economic, social， and ecological benefits. Its coordinated development has been greatly significant to promote the ecological civilization, even to optimize the spatial planning in land use. However, the spatial function differentiation is still lacking on the different plots in the same land type, particularly in the most current evaluation on the production-living-ecological space. The clustering or coordination degree (CD) is also less sufficient in production-living-ecological space. The purpose of this study is to improve the evaluation system of production-living-ecological space, further to partition its aggregation and coordination degree for the land-use spatial optimization. An integration of multi-source spatial data was implemented to evaluate the functions of production-living-ecological space in different plots with the same land from the grid scale, with emphasis on the perspective of spatial heterogeneity. A systematic analysis was then made on the spatial autocorrelation and trigonometric coordinates. As such, the clustering and coordination characteristics were revealed on the production-living-ecological space on the township scale. Zoning schemes were finally proposed for the optimization of land space. The results are as follows. 1) The high score areas of production space in Hainan Island were concentrated in the coastal cities and counties, indicating the distribution characteristics of "higher around and lower in the middle, higher in the north and lower in the south". There were also differences between the urban and rural production spaces. The high score areas of living space were mainly concentrated in the cities and counties, with the spatial pattern of "small part gathering and most scattered". The high score areas of ecological space were concentrated in the middle, with the distribution characteristics of "higher in the middle and lower around". 2) The Moran's I indexes for the production, life, and ecological space function were 0.569, 0.221 and 0.716, respectively, in Hainan Island obtained from the township scale. It inferred that there was the strongest spatial correlation between the spatial autocorrelation characteristics and ecological space. Therefore, a zoning scheme was proposed for the whole island using the characteristics of spatial clustering. 3) There were great differences in the coordination degree of production-living-ecological space in different towns of Hainan Island. The high value areas were dominated by ecological space and coordinated type, accounting for 51.72% and 43.97% of the total number of towns, respectively. The low value area was dominated by ecology space, accounting for 72.41% of the total number of towns, where no living dominant town was observed. In the case of spatial features, a zoning scheme was proposed for the whole island using the characteristics of spatial coordination. The heterogeneity of spatial functions was effectively identified in the production-living-ecological space for the different plots with the same land type. A specific scheme of production-living-ecological spatial zoning was also proposed from two new perspectives of spatial clustering and coordination degree, suitable for the current practice of land space optimization. An optimization path of production-living-ecological spatial evaluation can provide the zoning schemes, according to the spatial characteristics. The finding can offer a potential decision making for the land space optimization, as well as the construction of free trade port and ecological civilization in Hainan Island of southern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India believes that the tension between China and the United States will continue, exerting impact on shaping a multi-polar world and bringing a series of global consequences, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for India itself. In response, India has taken a series of measures, including working with the US to counter China’s rise through “Issue-based Alignment” and “Asymmetric Accommodation”; reshaping the partnership with neighboring countries to advocate the “India way” and weaken the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative; enhancing cooperation with the US in the Indian Ocean to shape the “Indo-Pacific” concept to prevent China’s domination of the region; claiming to support the global free trade system, but emulating the US’ protectionism against China. Compared with its active geostrategic response, India is ill-prepared for the global economic turmoil triggered by the competition between China and the US. In the future, India’s strategy of “working with the US and countering China” will not be fundamentally changed. However, India’s response to the long-term impact of the China-US competition remains tentative, given the changes in major-country relations, the competition of new technologies and the uncertainty of the economic reform in India. While being alert to the geo-strategic interactions between India and the US, China should focus on the big picture, properly manage differences, and seek cooperation with India in the context of India’s economic and technological policy uncertainties and the common challenges faced by the two sides against the backdrop of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is currently the most active country in promoting “Mega FTAs”, which epitomizes the new developments in its free trade strategy. Japan’s efforts to promote “Mega FTAs” proceeds from multiple considerations, including seeking economic benefit, promoting domestic restructuring, and building a major-country image. Japan’s adjustments of its free trade strategy led to new changes in the leadership structure in the Asia-Pacific integration, accelerated competition among different “Mega FTAs”, and pushed the rivalry between regionalism and multilateralism over trade liberalization onto a new stage. Japan’s implementation of its new trade strategy is confronted with such constraints as its weak position in agenda-setting and rules-making, challenges of “competitive liberalization” and uncertainties of the US policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Shinzo Abe resumed the position of Prime Minister, Japan has accelerated its pursuit of the status of a “normal power”, leading to a dramatic improvement of strategic independence and a corresponding change in its national image as well as political paradigm. The Abe administration has stepped up efforts to promote Japan’s strategic independence, which is a response to a combination of shocks brought about by major changes in international environment. The most salient measures Japan has taken for greater strategic independence lie in the policies and maneuvers “outside the alliance”: leading the restructuring of free trade rules and order internationally, promoting the conception of “Indo-Pacific Strategy” regionally, and advocating “Japan- China Coordination” in major-country relations. Japan’s moves in pursuing strategic independence have received worldwide attention, but they also face domestic and international constraints posed by such factors as the Japan-US alliance, geopolitics and security perceptions. Confronting with both the upside and downside of the Japanese policies, it is advisable for China to actively encourage healthy developments, seek gains and avoid negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities continue to serve as shining beacons of hope and opportunity, and people in every corner of the world flock to them to experience a higher standard of living, start families, and found businesses, in a migration trend known as urbanization. This trend has made of cities intellectual hubs and cultural and financial centers. But cities also have congestion, pollution, and public safety issues. Continued globalization and urbanization have tested the limits of the city’s health, power, safety, and transport infrastructures. With globalization came rapid change in technology, trade liberalization, and in the relationship between production, sales, and consumption. Cities must become smarter to be able to compete globally. Building smart cities with local characteristics is an important factor in cities’ ability to secure a place in the competition of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing number of FTAs, a country may establish more than one FTA relationships with others, and the world's trading system is taking on a complex and overlapping FTAs network. Such a network of relationships has a further impact on the willingness of a country's FTA signing, which is called the contagion effect. To test the existence of the contagion effect, we compared the willingness of a country signing an FTA in four cases of FTAs network. In reference to Baldwin et al, we developed the contagious index to reflect the contagion effect in different cases, and then analyzed those factors influencing the contagion effect. This study finds that there exists contagion effect significantly. Furthermore, in different cases of FTAs network, factors such as the importance of the markets of potential FTA partners to a country's exports, the quantity of potential FTA partners have signed and the like, affect the intensity of the contagion effect. Our analysis provides a reference to the decision-making for a country to choose FTA partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]