The APEC summit has endorsed a Beijing-backed route towards a vast free trade area in the region.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting also featured a flurry of diplomatic activity, with Russia's President Vladimir Putin meeting US counterpart Barack Obama and, separately, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
China has been keen to underscore its rising trade and diplomatic clout during the summit, at a lakeside venue north of the Chinese capital, and host Xi Jinping said the bloc had "approved the roadmap for APEC to promote and realise the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific".
He called it a "historic" step reflecting the "confidence and commitment of APEC members to promote the integration of the regional economy", and symbolising "the official launch of the process towards the FTAAP".
The FTAAP would build on other initiatives including the smaller US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), but China's firm advocacy of the plan over TPP has added to Sino-US trade rivalry.
Besides accounting for more than 50 per cent of global gross domestic product, 21-member APEC also makes up nearly half of world trade and 40 per cent of the Earth's population.
Obama, Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe respectively lead the world's three biggest economies, while Russia is a powerful player in energy exports whose annexation of Crimea and support for Ukrainian rebels has sent relations with the United States into a tailspin, with the West imposing sanctions on Moscow.
But Obama held talks of about 15-20 minutes with Putin, according to the White House, with their conversations covering Iran, Syria and Ukraine.
The Russian leader also held a bilateral with Abbott, who has publicly declared his fury at the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people including 38 Australian citizens and residents.
Abbott's office underlined that evidence suggested a Russian-supplied missile from a launcher that was then returned to Russian territory was responsible, labelling it "a very serious matter".
For its part, China is embroiled in territorial and historical disputes with Japan, but Abe stressed co-operation with Beijing after the summit, calling for the neighbours to press ahead with tentative efforts to put their deep hostility behind them after he met Xi.
"Japan and China, we need each other. We are in a way inseparably bound with each other," Abe told reporters.
"Japan and China both have responsibility for peace and prosperity of the region and of the world."
Washington has been pushing the TPP, which aims for a loosening of trade restrictions and embraces 11 other Pacific Rim countries including Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico, while notably excluding China.
AFP
source: newshub archive
