japan was waiting for india, india was the biggest stumbling block in the negotiation. Frankly, I think they got greedy when they invited india to join the negotiation. If I'm not mistaken, RCEP started as ASEAN plus three East Asia nations. Australia insisted on joining the negotiation, and India was invited later on. Even then, many has misgivings on inviting India because they know it is almost impossible for India to cut red tapes on trade. They were proven right after wasting so much time. Actually I think RCEP should invite Bangladesh and Russia instead. Luckily, now with india removed from equation, the negotiation could move forward. They all need this RCEP badly to restart the bad economy