China is promoting the proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific despite US pressure to wrap up other trade negotiations. Analysts see it as a response to a US-led initiative, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes 12 countries but excludes China.
Beijing has launched a series of trad.e and finance initiatives in pursuit of a bigger role in US-dominated economic and security organisations to reflect Beijing's status as the world's second-biggest economy.
Apec was the first major international gathering in China since Xi took power and gave Beijing a platform to lobby for a bigger leadership role