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BEIJING. — The global economic recovery is unstable and nations in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) bloc should speed up free trade talks to spur growth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday.
Speaking at this year’s APEC summit in Beijing, Xi said the 21-member forum had agreed that economic integration was the “driving force” behind sustained strong growth and APEC “should continue to play a leading and co-ordinating role in pushing forward this process”.
APEC, which includes the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Canada, groups countries which account for 40 percent of the world’s population, 54 percent of its economic output and 44 percent of trade.
Xi urged members to speed up talks on a trade liberalization framework called the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) that is being pushed by Beijing. APEC had approved work towards the establishment of FTAAP, which Xi said was a “historic step”.
“Currently, the global economic recovery still faces many unstable and uncertain factors. Facing the new situation, we should further promote regional economic integration and create a pattern of opening up that is conducive to long-term development,” Xi said. “We should vigorously promote the Asia-Pacific free trade zone, setting the goal, direction and roadmap and turn the vision into reality as soon as possible.”
Some see a proposed study on the FTAAP plan, which will eventually be presented to APEC leaders for approval, as a way to divert attention from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement backed by the United States.
China is not part of the TPP and has not been enthusiastic about the initiative. Beijing fears that the TPP is being used by Washington to either force it to open markets by signing up or else isolate it from other regional economies as trade is diverted to TPP signatories. The TPP is widely seen as the economic backbone of US President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, what some experts view as an attempt to balance China’s rise by establishing a larger US presence in the region.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters there was significant momentum toward building the TPP.
“All the countries are very focused on doing that, but we want to make sure that we get it right,” he said. Business leaders attending the APEC forum have been looking for signs of progress on the TPP, which had been stalled since September, especially as China continues to push for the FTAAP. — Reuters.
Online Reporter