LIMA: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday called for Asia-Pacific economies to “unite and cooperate” in the face of mounting “protectionism”.

Addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru, hours before he is due to meet US counterpart Joe Biden, Xi pointed to “challenges such as geopolitics, unilateralism and rising protectionism”. “We must unite and cooperate,” he added, in remarks published by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Xi’s planned meeting with Biden comes two months before Republican president-elect Donald Trump, who engaged in an escalating tariffs war with Beijing during his first term in office, returns to the White House in January.

On the campaign trail this time, Trump has vowed a series of protectionist trade policies, including across-the-board tariffs on all imports, especially high levies on China.

On Saturday, Xi urged APEC members to stand firm on multilateralism and open economies while pushing for regional integration.

He nodded to efforts in creating an Asia-Pacific free trade area — which has been in the works for years —_ and said that Beijing is willing to negotiate trade agreements in the digital and green sectors.

Xi, whose country will host APEC in 2026, also called for greater cooperation in frontier fields like artificial intelligence and quantum information.

On Friday, Xi told the APEC CEO Summit that attempts to reduce global economic interdependence was “nothing but backpedalling”.

China, the world’s second biggest economy, has been grappling with challenges ranging from a prolonged housing crisis to sluggish consumption and local government debt.

The country is targeting annual growth of five per cent this year, but many experts consider this ambitious given the challenges its economy is facing.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024