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Fighting Over APEC Summit Already Heated

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EIRNS —The U.S. is attempting to prevent China from pushing forward an Asia-Pacific trade pact which would cover ALL APEC members, and undercut significantly the U.S. attempt to isolate China in a ``rules-based" Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). China claims that a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) would not undermine any other trade agreements, such as the TPP, but would include all the members of the APEC region. In addition, laying the markers for such a comprehensive area would point the way to increased ``connectivity" in the region, one of the watchwords of the present APEC Summit.

While various schemes of free-trade areas (FTAs) are being worked on, including the US-backed TPP, China is intent that, at the end of the day, all nations would achieve fairness in trade and it would be beneficial for everybody. Such a pact was already mooted at an APEC meeting in 2006, and, at the time, was supported by the United States.

``Existing trade mechanisms are highly fragmented, as current bilateral and multilateral FTAs are based on different standards and rules," He Weiwen, an executive council member of the China Society for WTO Studies, told the Global Times. "Building a free trade area that covers all APEC economies is in accordance with all members’ interests."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 2nd that the US has sought to block China’s efforts to begin negotiations on an FTAAP. For this meeting, China wants to move a step ahead in the process, with a clear final statement by APEC leaders calling for a feasibility study, and to setting a target date for full implementation in 2025. Both of these are being fought by the United States, fearful the effect this would have for its plans for their partisan TPP. The U.S. is also lobbying hard to prevent the AIIB from becoming a major item on the APEC agenda.

William Jones