The Philippines will get two additional navy ships from the U.S.as well as patrol vessels and defense equipment from Japan amid a territorial spat with China over the South China Sea.
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He also offered a warship to the Philippines, one of Beijing’s most vocal critics in the dispute.
Juan Raffo, chairman of APEC Business Advisory Council 2016, said that the southern American country’s economy has really been a showcase of success of the latest eight years in which the country have the pleasure of hosting an APEC CEO Summit.
The South China Sea dispute, which involves China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan – all APEC members – was not mentioned in the final statement despite apprehension that China’s claims threaten freedom of navigation in the waters.
During Thursday’s sessions, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged APEC members to enhance “win-win cooperation” and boost world economic growth.
“We discussed the impact of China’s land reclamation and construction activities on regional stability”, Obama told reporters after meeting Philippine President Benigno Aquino.
Although the issue was not raised at the summit, fierce debate on the issue could emerge at another regional conference in the coming days.
China is at odds with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations over China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea.
Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the Philippine made significant contributions in furthering the objectives of the just-concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila.
With the introduction of the Belt and Road initiative and the AIIB, China provides countries along the silk routes with opportunities to improve their inter-connectivity, thus opening broad markets for Asian and European countries, said Benito Lim, political science professor of Ateneo de Manila University.
“Accelerate the realization of FTAAP (and) take regional integration forward, encourage equal footing participation, a free trade engagement (that is) open and inclusive”, he said.
Obama faces significant resistance to TPP ratification, even from a few members of his own party, including Hillary Clinton the leading Democratic candidate for president. The USA and China are using their respective trade groupings to jockey for influence in Asia, the world’s most populous and fastest-growing region economically.
The partnership requires a level playing field for foreign firms to compete with government-backed companies.
They also led to the development and launch of the Apec Trade Repository to promote transparency and connectivity in the region.
Beijing is careful about “not sending the wrong message to the people in China” about what it is going to do with the TPP, according to a negotiating source.
“The problem is that there are a lot of barriers to services although they aren’t tariffs”, Bollard said, “So we’re trying to ensure that trade facilitation works for key areas for service such as telecommunications, software across borders, data and cyber security”.
There were also calls for more inclusive growth and the need to address regional disparities and the technology divide.
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Obama said the two countries would soon be signatories to the TPP, which still must be approved by each country.
