China-Backed Pacific Deal May Be Hard to Reconcile With TPP - APEC Delegate

The all-inclusive Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), promoted by China, may be hard to align with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China, Allan Zeman, Hong Kong’s representative to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), told Sputnik on Friday.

MANILA (Sputnik) — The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a 12-nation trade deal, the wording of which was agreed last month between the United States and Japan, Australia, New Zealand and many other Pacific Rim nations.

The Asia-Pacific region is estimated to account for some 40 percent of the global economy. In 2011, Washington announced a pivot to the Asia-Pacific region amid the rise of China, seeking to strengthen its cooperation with the rest of the region.

During the ongoing APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Manila, Beijing is expected to take steps to reclaim its leading position in the Asia-Pacific, contesting Washington and Tokyo who are TPP members, by promoting the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

"If the TPP does get passed … it will be very difficult for the TPP and FTAAP to coexist, it creates more barriers and problems," Zeman, who is also a Hong Kong property magnate, said.

"Free trade is about all countries being included, beneficial for all, whatever the industry is. When you leave countries out, especially important superpowers, we can just see a retaliation one day," Zeman added.

The TPP deal creates division between the forum’s economies rather than establishing free trade cooperation between them, he said.

"I think it is more political than economic… Many countries are still against the TPP. The US is of course the one that pushes to get it through. But I personally am not sure it will get passed in the end of the day. There is still quite a lot of opposition from many different countries," Zeman warned.

"All the TPP does is it causes divisions in the world with the ones who have not been included. If you really want a good free trade agreement, you must have superpowers, like China, included," Allan Zeman, who is also a Hong Kong property magnate, said.

Neither China, nor its special administrative region Hong Kong, are parties to the TPP agreement which has raised concerns over workers’ rights and the secrecy in which it was negotiated. Russia is also excluded from the TPP agreement.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), established in 1989, promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The APEC forum was founded in 1989 to promote free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The bloc includes Russia, the United States, China, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Brunei.