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Chinese President Xi Jinping sends warning over rival Asia-Pacific trade pacts

Xi also uses Apec to assure existing and potential investors that the door to the Chinese market will always remain open

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China’s President Xi Jinping addresses leaders at Wednesday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Manila. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping warned on Wednesday that rival trade pacts in the Asia-Pacific region might cause “fragmentation”.

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He also pledged to further lift restrictions on foreign investment in China.

Speaking to business leaders at an Apec CEO summit in Manila, Xi urged member nations to accelerate the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) as many other economic deals were taking shape in the region.

“Currently, many new free-trade arrangements keep emerging. It triggers various concerns about fragmentation [of the regional economy],” he said.

Read more: It’s the geopolitics, stupid: US-led TPP trade pact less about boosting economies than about containing China’s rise

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Xi did not name the new arrangements. But FTAAP is widely seen as a move by Beijing to counter the influence of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which includes Japan, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia, and represents 40 per cent of global gross domestic product.

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