China eyes alternative to TPP free trade deal
Print Edition
CHINA will seek to push its own vision of an Asia-Pacific trade pact at a regional summit next week, senior officials said yesterday.
Beijing sought to promote the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which it hosted.
At the meeting’s close, participants endorsed efforts to explore the idea, which was seen as a potential rival to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation, Washington-led trade coalition that includes the region’s largest economies, but not China.
Little has been heard of the FTAAP since, while the long-secret text of the TPP was released last week, receiving cheers from global business interests and jeers from labor, environmental and health groups.
The TPP would be the world’s biggest free trade area, an attempt to break down barriers to commerce and investment between a dozen countries comprising about 40 percent of the global economy.
China said it will report the findings of a study on FTAAP at next week’s APEC summit in the Philippines, to be attended by President Xi Jinping.
“We need to work for the establishment of the FTAAP,” Chinese vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen told a briefing.
If realized, FTAAP would be the world’s largest free trade area, encompassing TPP and other regional frameworks.
APEC’s 21 members account for more than 50 percent of global GDP and nearly half of world trade.
Wang said China is hopeful that the group will complete a roadmap for establishing the FTAAP framework.
“Our objective is to complete the joint strategic study next year and to present operable suggestions and recommendations to the leaders at next year’s summit,” he said.
Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said it is important to ensure sustainable Asia-Pacific growth so the region “can continue to play its role as an engine for world economic growth.”
China has latched onto the FTAAP as a hedge against the US-led TPP, a key element of Washington’s “Asia pivot.”
While the US has said it is open to Chinese participation in the TPP, it has excluded it from negotiations.
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