Apec set to launch study on China-backed free trade area
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Beijing
LEADERS will agree to launch a study on a China-backed free trade area at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting here, an APEC official said, amid controversy over competing US and Chinese visions for regional trade.
China is pushing the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at Apec, but some see the proposal as a way to divert attention from the more comprehensive US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) plan being negotiated by 12 countries, not including China. "A study has always been on the table, and there's been agreement on this, but it's not an opening of negotiations," Alan Bollard, executive director of Apec Secretariat told reporters at a briefing on Thursday. Mr Bollard said that the plan to conduct the research would be "a big deliverable".
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