Asia-Pacific leaders Tuesday backed China''s roadmap for a vast new free trade area rivalling US plans for the region at a summit in Beijing where Russian leader Vladimir Putin had a tense showdown with Barack Obama. Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed endorsement of the plan as a "historic" step towards realising the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). He said it reflected the "confidence and commitment of Apec members to promote the integration of the regional economy".
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum accounts for more than 50 percent of global GDP and nearly half of world trade. Beijing has embraced the broader FTAAP which is seen as a rival to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership pushed by Washington as part of its much-vaunted "pivot" to Asia but which notably excludes China. The FTAAP is a longer-term concept for the entire region that would build on the TPP and other free-trade initiatives. The US president has insisted he wants China "to do well" despite simmering tensions between the world''s two largest economies.
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