Sino-US rivalry assumes centre stage at Apec summit

POLITICAL leaders from across Asia-Pacific and the Americas are meeting at the first Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leadership summit since the agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) last month. China will be centre stage in the meeting given its attempts to push an alternative trade pact to the TPP, and the possibility that geopolitical disputes over its territorial claims in the South China Sea could emerge on the agenda.

Following the Paris terrorist attacks, security at the summit in the Philippines will be enormously tight. Presidents and prime ministers will be in attendance from the United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam, while Indonesia will send its vice-president. Collectively, these economies account for more than 50 per cent of global GDP (gross domestic product) and nearly half of world trade.

The meeting could prove as interesting for what is not officially on the agenda as what is. For instance, India's application to join Apec will not be formally discussed, nor potentially will the territorial disputes in the South China Sea through which some US$5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes each year. While this year's host, President Benigno Aquino III, has agreed not to raise this, despite his vocal disagreement with Beijing on this issue, President Barack Obama may yet choose to do so according to the US State Department.