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A video screen shows Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking to fellow Apec members. Photo: Reuters

China may join trade pact that replaced Trans-Pacific Partnership, Xi Jinping tells Apec

  • Participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is being considered by Beijing
  • ‘We must continue to promote regional economic integration and strive to establish an Asia-Pacific free-trade zone,’ Chinese president says
Trade

China will actively consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), while the Asia-Pacific region must defend multilateralism and promote free and open trade and investment, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the online Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit on Friday.

“Along the way, Apec, which is committed to promoting regional economic integration, has made considerable progress and played an important role in leading the evolution of the multilateral trading system,” said Xi, who spoke via video link at the invitation of the forum’s host, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“However, free and open trade and investment cannot be realised overnight,” Xi added.

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RCEP: 15 Asia-Pacific countries sign world’s largest free-trade deal

RCEP: 15 Asia-Pacific countries sign world’s largest free-trade deal

He stressed that Apec had never been a zero-sum game where the winner takes all. Instead, he said the 21-nation body should promote win-win development for its members.

As such, the Asia-Pacific region must continue to lead the way, Xi said, to “unswervingly support the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as the key body, promote free and open trade and investment, and guide globalisation to become open, inclusive, balanced and win-win,” state broadcaster CCTV quoted him as saying.

“We must continue to promote regional economic integration and strive to establish an Asia-Pacific free-trade zone at an early date,” he said, adding that unilateralism exacerbated risks for the global economy.

How China will cope with cancellation of Apec summit

US President Donald Trump, who has been critical of the WTO and launched a trade war with China, also called in to the summit – the first time he has participated since 2017 – but his comments were not made public.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow described the summit as a “good, healthy, constructive, cooperative meeting.”

Kudlow gave few details on Trump’s remarks, but said the president used the platform to trumpet the United States’ progress against Covid-19, including the two successful vaccine trials and what he described as the economy’s “V-shaped recovery”.

US President Donald Trump was the only world leader not to use the designated Apec backdrop. Photo: AP

Trump made his mark in the Asia-Pacific region early on, pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – the doomed predecessor of the CPTPP – in 2017 just days into his presidency. As his administration has furthered its “America First” policy on global issues, Beijing has conversely sought to present itself as a champion of multilateralism.

US isolationism was on full display on Friday, when Trump was the only leader in the video conference to not appear before a designated APEC backdrop depicting the Malaysian prime minister’s office building. Citing an unnamed source involved in planning the summit, Associated Press reported that Trump, who spoke beneath a US presidential seal, refused to use the image.

In his remarks, Xi said China welcomes the recent signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and “will give positive consideration to the idea” of joining the CPTPP.

RCEP a ‘wake-up call’ for Europe and the US to unite against China

If China were to join the CPTPP, it would become a member of the region’s two largest free-trade agreements, neither of which includes the US.

Xi also said China would adhere to its “dual circulation” strategy, a move towards emphasising domestic consumption to help restore the country’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic, and would “build a new higher-level open economy and create a more attractive investment and business environment”.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, signed the RCEP deal last Sunday after eight years of negotiations, sealing an agreement that excludes the US and extends Beijing’s economic sway in the region.

Additional reporting by Owen Churchill

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China may join the CPTPP trade pact, Xi says at summit
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