By Joseph Sipalan
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Fresh from the success of
creating the world's largest free trade region, China's
President Xi Jinping will be among the speakers on Thursday
heralding a Asia-Pacific virtual summit that U.S. President
Donald Trump has decided to skip.
Last week, 15 countries signed the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the China-backed accord, which
excludes the United States, will loom large over the virtual
summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) hosted by
Malaysia. A dozen of APEC's 21 members signed up to RCEP.
Trump's absence follows his defeat in the Nov. 3 U.S.
presidential election, though he has yet to concede and begin a
transfer of government to President-elect Joe Biden.
The one and only APEC summit Trump attended was hosted by
Vietnam in 2017.
The U.S. has yet to name a head of delegation for this
summit, though Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun attended
an APEC ministerial meeting on Monday. Malaysian Trade Minister Azmin Ali admitted on Tuesday there
were disagreements among member states over the "level of
ambition" in pursuing APEC's vision and approaches on
multilateral trade and economic integration.
Azmin expressed optimism that some consensus could be found,
but APEC's recent history has not been encouraging.
Deadly riots forced hosts Chile to cancel last year's
summit. And in 2018, APEC failed to agree on a joint communique,
the first time in the bloc's history, as the United States and
China stood at opposing ends of talks on trade and investments.
Xi and other APEC member leaders are set to speak at a chief
executives' conference starting Thursday, ahead of Friday's
summit.
A joint ministerial statement on Monday outlined the need
for members to uphold free, fair and non-discriminatory trade
practices to drive economic recovery from the pandemic, besides
implementing structural reforms to promote sustainable and
inclusive growth. But the proposals will need to reach consensus at Friday's
summit, with some critics questioning the bloc's relevance.