BEIJING: An Asia-Pacific summit yesterday endorsed a Beijing-backed route towards a vast free trade area in the region, host Xi Jinping said, calling it a “historic” step.
China has been keen to underscore its rising trade and diplomatic clout during the summit, at a lakeside venue north of the Chinese capital, and Xi said the bloc had “approved the roadmap for APEC to promote and realise the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific”.
He called it a “historic” step reflecting the “confidence and commitment of APEC members to promote the integration of the regional economy”, and symbolising “the official launch of the process towards the FTAAP”.
The FTAAP would build on other initiatives including the smaller US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but China’s firm advocacy of the plan over TPP has added to Sino-US trade rivalry.
Besides accounting for more than 50 percent of global gross domestic product, 21-member APEC also makes up nearly half of world trade and 40 percent of the Earth’s population.
Washington has been pushing the TPP, which aims for a loosening of trade restrictions and embraces 11 other Pacific Rim countries including Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico, while notably excluding China.
Some Chinese analysts and state media have framed the TPP as an attempt to check Beijing’s growing economic clout — allegations Washington dismisses.
At the meeting US President Obama himself praised China for focusing attention on APEC’s role in eventually achieving the FTAAP, first proposed in 2006, but also reiterated the US priority was the smaller TPP.
“The many regional initiatives will contribute to the eventual realisation,” he said. “We see our engagement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a contribution towards that effort.”
China’s increasing economic and military prominence has lead to tensions with Washington, including over rival allegations of cyber-spying.
But both sides say they want to manage their relationship to avoid clashes in the past that have occurred between rising and established powers.
In a sign that they can work together, the White House announced that they had “reached an understanding” on an agreement to reduce tariffs on information technology trade.
At the same time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting saw a flurry of diplomatic activity, with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin — often criticised by the West — meeting his US counterpart Barack Obama and, separately, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. A day earlier Xi had also met Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. AFP
