China's Xi steers Apec into neglected directions

Tokyo

THIS week's Apec Summit in Beijing illustrated just how quickly the old (postwar) order is changing now so far as the balance of regional power in Asia is concerned. Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the summit and showed it is not a case of "if you can't beat them, join them" but "join them in their own game and beat them". He steered Apec into neglected, if not new, directions, proving China's ability to influence Asia's development agenda.

Two things in particular were noteworthy. One was the determination shown by Mr Xi to ensure that the process of Asian integration would not be hijacked by Western-imposed blueprints. The other was the bold vision that he set out for the future "geography" of Asia. Asian economic cooperation and integration is not supposed to be only about Apec or the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation to use its full (and rather clumsy) title, but about a less well-known entity which has yet to take shape, known as FTAAP or the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.