From duty-free durian to new energy vehicles, real-world stories prove the value of the world's largest trade pact, speakers said at an event in Hainan on Saturday.

The panel on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was part of the 2026 RCEP Media & Think Tank Forum in Haikou, Hainan province.

Supachai Wuthichuwong, a member of the editorial board of Thailand's MGR Online, offered concrete evidence of those benefits.

"Taokaenoi, the largest seaweed manufacturer in Thailand, has been importing seaweed from South Korea and benefited from RCEP rules' zero tariff," he said. "It processes the raw material and makes popular seaweed snacks that are sold globally."

China has imported durian from Thailand duty-free, while Thailand has imported new energy vehicles from China duty-free, which are the kinds of examples the media should use in the RCEP region, he added.

Ko Ko Maung, executive board member of the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, called RCEP "a strategic framework for shared prosperity".

Participants challenged the view that the RCEP is a conventional trade deal in the discussion.

"That is technically correct but analytically incomplete," said Wilson Lee Flores, columnist for The Philippine Star. "RCEP is better understood as an institutional stress test — can 15 economies with different political systems, income levels, legal traditions and strategic cultures cooperate without a centralized authority?"

Flores contrasted Europe's model of treaties, courts and bureaucracy with Asia's approach of flexibility, gradualism, consensus and patience.

"When we ask why progress on rule upgrades, a secretariat or membership expansion seems slow, we must first ask: slow by whose clock?" he said.

"In the Philippines, many small farmers still ask, 'Where do I even find the tariff schedule?' That is not ignorance. That is infrastructure -digital, logistical, educational — still being built."

Inclusive growth

He said gradual pace is "the price of inclusive growth" and that the existence of RCEP reveals a "quiet resilience".

Flores said RCEP offers a separate track for cooperation even when political temperatures rise.

"Geopolitics is the occasional typhoon outside. RCEP is not the roof — it is the room where neighbors keep talking positively and trading while the storm passes," he said. "That is the accumulated wisdom of Asian diplomacy."

With RCEP's general review approaching in 2027, Flores called for a regional public education initiative over the next two years: multilingual media campaigns, university partnerships, youth exchanges, journalist fellowships and digital storytelling focused on practical success stories.

"Not theory. Not jargon. But examples," he said. "If the people themselves feel included in the journey of regional development, then the foundations of RCEP will become far stronger, more stable and more enduring for future generations."

The panel agreed that the pact's ultimate measure is not bureaucratic milestones but whether farmers, entrepreneurs and consumers see better lives. RCEP's benefits are already on store shelves and dinner tables — stories, speakers said, that deserve to be told.

Contact the writers at chenbowen@chinadaily.com.cn.