US-China dueling free trade agreements at APEC
Kyodo News agency
Ministers of 21 Asia-Pacific countries are set to discuss ways to boost regional integration and adopt a road map toward the creation of a new free trade area (FTA) at a two-day meeting in Beijing starting today in the run-up to a summit next week (Nov 10-11). China, the chair of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, had sought to fix a target year of 2025 for a possible implementation of the massive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) being pushed by Beijing, but the United States and Japan blocked it fearing it could compromise on-going talks for the narrower US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact that includes Japan but not China.
On the sidelines of the Apec forum, the 12 countries involved in the TPP will hold their own ministerial meeting on Saturday, seeking to advance their stalled talks. The TPP, if realised, would be the world's largest free-trade zone encompassing around 40% of global output, while the Apec-wide FTAAP, the idea of which first emerged in 2006, is seen by some critics as a Chinese attempt to counter the TPP.
With the TPP initiative a core part of the US "pivot" to Asia, President Barack Obama had said he envisioned the 12 countries would produce a substantial outcome in time for his trip to Beijing, amid China's increasing clout in the region. But it is unlikely the TPP negotiating members will announce a basic agreement during the Apec forum as they remain apart over several difficult issues including intellectual property (IP) rights concerning copyrights and patents, and how to deal with Japanese tariffs on agricultural products. [The 21-member Apec comprises 12 TPP negotiating countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam - and China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan and Thailand.]
US-China dueling free trade agreements at APEC
Kyodo News agency
Ministers of 21 Asia-Pacific countries are set to discuss ways to boost regional integration and adopt a road map toward the creation of a new free trade area (FTA) at a two-day meeting in Beijing starting today in the run-up to a summit next week (Nov 10-11). China, the chair of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, had sought to fix a target year of 2025 for a possible implementation of the massive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) being pushed by Beijing, but the United States and Japan blocked it fearing it could compromise on-going talks for the narrower US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact that includes Japan but not China.
On the sidelines of the Apec forum, the 12 countries involved in the TPP will hold their own ministerial meeting on Saturday, seeking to advance their stalled talks. The TPP, if realised, would be the world's largest free-trade zone encompassing around 40% of global output, while the Apec-wide FTAAP, the idea of which first emerged in 2006, is seen by some critics as a Chinese attempt to counter the TPP.
With the TPP initiative a core part of the US "pivot" to Asia, President Barack Obama had said he envisioned the 12 countries would produce a substantial outcome in time for his trip to Beijing, amid China's increasing clout in the region. But it is unlikely the TPP negotiating members will announce a basic agreement during the Apec forum as they remain apart over several difficult issues including intellectual property (IP) rights concerning copyrights and patents, and how to deal with Japanese tariffs on agricultural products. [The 21-member Apec comprises 12 TPP negotiating countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam - and China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan and Thailand.]
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