ASIA-PACIFIC countries gave a resounding approval yesterday to plans to work towards a free-trade pact proposed by China.

Participants at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Beijing, including US President Barack Obama and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, agreed to a first step of launching a two-year study of the initiative.

“This is a historic step in the direction of an Asia-Pacific free-trade area,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China is promoting its own idea of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific despite pressure from Washington to conclude other trade deals such as the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which includes 12 countries but excludes China.

The Apec leaders also promised to work closely to combat official corruption.

That is a special concern for Beijing, which is stepping up efforts to pursue officials who flee abroad with stolen public money.

It has launched a series of trade and finance initiatives in pursuit of a bigger role in US-dominated economic and security organisations to reflect China’s status as the world’s second-biggest economy.

Apec was the first major international gathering in China since Mr Xi became president, offering the country a greater international leadership role.

Beijing announced a free-trade agreement with South Korea on the eve of the conference, while regulators approved a plan to open Chinese stock markets wider to foreign investors by linking exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

That followed the weekend announcement of a £25 billion Chinese-financed fund to improve trade links between Asian economies.
It marks the first time Beijing has played a leading role in a multinational trade agreement.

Wu Xinbo, director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, commented: “TPP is being used to push aside China and to weaken China’s economic core status.”

Promotion of its own initiative “will give China a bigger right to speak in the Asia-Pacific, to have a new status.”

Mr Obama said on Monday that the US “welcomes the rise” of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China.

However, US trade officials are impatient for Beijing to conclude a bilateral investment treaty and a separate agreement to lower barriers to trade in information technology.