CY Leung vows full Hong Kong support for Beijing's Apec free trade proposal

Hong Kong fully supports the formation of a regional free-trade agreement to strengthen economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Tuesday during the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (Apec) summit.

Leung said Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) would be a major instrument to further Apec’s regional economic integration agenda.

“We endorse the Beijing Roadmap for Apec’s Contribution to the Realisation of the FTAAP,” Leung said during the Apec Economic Leaders Meeting.

He said the roadmap set out comprehensive and systematic pathways and actions to advance important initiative.

“In particular, we support the launch of a collective strategic study to identify the issues, benefits and challenges as we work towards realising the FTAAP,” he added.

Many see Beijing's push for the FTAAP as an effort to rival the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the United States and 11 other countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region.