Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations, including Thailand, are expected to sign an enormous free trade deal at an online summit that started on Thursday, with the pact seen as a coup for China in extending its influence across the region. Once signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the world’s largest trade pact in terms of GDP, according to analysts. The RCEP could help ease the financial pain, said Dr Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, an Assistant Professor at the Centre of Multilateralism Studies in RSIS. “In the light of Covid-19, RCEP could enable ASEAN to bounce back more quickly as such a deal allows firms to diversify their supply chains and increase resiliency of the regional economies,” she added.