China calls for APEC cooperation as commerce minister skips opening
SUZHOU, China — China’s international trade representative Li Chenggang opened the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers meeting on Friday with a call for regional economies to “send a strong message to the world” to promote cooperation.
Li said he would chair the opening meeting in place of Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who had “urgent official business,” according to CNBC’s Chinese translation.
The trade representative role is a full minister rank. Li also serves as China’s vice minister of commerce.
The APEC trade ministers’ meeting, which ends on Saturday, will take place about a week after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in Beijing. China has agreed to place its first major order for Boeing planes in nearly a decade and buy $17 billion worth of US agricultural products annually through 2028.
“Although APEC is not a place for negotiations, it should play a guiding role in economic and trade discussions,” Li said.
“For the consensus that has already been reached, [APEC] “The implementation must be accelerated and the results should be seen early,” he said.
Ambassador Rick Switzer, Deputy United States Trade Representative US delegation head for the meeting.
USA is one of them 12 founding members of APECIt was launched in Australia in 1989 as an informal forum for discussions on free trade and economic cooperation. The multilateral trade organization currently has 21 members, including China, Hong Kong and “Chinese Taipei”, which joined the forum in 1991.
