US
President Barack Obama hosts a summit Sunday of Asia-Pacific leaders after
announcing ambitious plans for a pan-regional trade zone that have frayed
relations with regional rival China.
As Obama welcomed regional leaders to his
palm-fringed home state of Hawaii, Japan boosted the nascent Trans-Pacific
Partnership by announcing it would join talks on what could become the world's
biggest free trade area.
But the president, who has dubbed himself
America's first Pacific president, balanced his calls for regional unity with a
challenge to emerging economic superpower China to sign up to developed world
trade standards.
"We represent close to three billion
people, from different continents and cultures; North, South, East and West;
men and women of every faith, color and creed," Obama said as he welcomed
regional leaders at the summit.
Obama, under domestic pressure as he seeks
re-election at a time when many heartland Americans think they lost their jobs
to low-wage China, told Chinese President Hu Jintao that Americans were
"impatient" for a change of Beijing's economic policy.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, would
strike down tariffs and trade barriers and inject momentum to liberalization
hopes bogged down by inconclusive talks on the Doha trade round.
In Hawaii, the pact got a fresh boost when new
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda committed to exploring talks about
joining the pact in a move that ran counter to years of political paralysis in
Tokyo.
"I have been extremely impressed already
with the boldness of his vision," Obama said after meeting Noda Saturday.
Obama has set a goal of doubling US exports to
create badly needed jobs at home. But he also hopes that the TPP will serve as
a strategic linchpin as the United States winds down wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and refocuses on Asia.
The TPP was signed in 2005 as an obscure
agreement among Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Obama suddenly turned
it into the cornerstone of US free trade drive, with Australia, Japan,
Malaysia, Peru, the United States and Vietnam now also in the talks.
In a joint statement, leaders of TPP nations
said they shared a "strong interest" in expanding their membership.
The major outlier of the TPP is China, the
world's second largest economy. Obama, shortly before holding talks with
Chinese President Hu Jintao, warned that Beijing must "play by the
rules" in international trade and intellectual property protection.
The United States has not explicitly ruled out
China's entrance into the TPP, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has
linked the trade agreement to fundamental values including openness and labor
standards.
Despite the US optimism about the TPP, Obama
acknowledged that there would be "difficulties" and
"sensitivities" among member countries. Most experts believe it will
take years before a concrete agreement can come to fruition.
"I'd be surprised if the 2012 deadline
were met, particularly in a presidential election year," said Peter Petri,
an expert from the East-West Center think-tank.
The details of the trade agreement remain
vague and opposition has already built in several countries. Some farm groups
in Japan and the United States have both voiced alarm that they would be
swamped by global competition.
APEC covers 21 Pacific Rim economies and more
than half the global economy.
Obama and First Lady Michelle, in a stylish
strapless dress topped with a pink sash, hosted a Hawaiian reception on
Saturday evening on the beach, in a rare informal opportunity for top world
leaders.
AFP
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