VietNamNet Bridge - For some countries, the APEC Summit will listen to, discuss and begin to make important decisions about the new order centered by China when Washington under the reign of Donald Trump is preparing to reduce its role in global issues.

World leaders at APEC Summit 2015

With the victory of the Republican candidate Trump in the US presidential election on November 8th, the anti-trade attitude is expected to dominate the upcoming administration in the US.

China, which was marginalized by the US from TPP negotiations, is now ready to become a power in new regional trade agreements. In turn, they also want to reject the US from the game by promoting regional and global economic integration projects of their own.

Twelve months ago, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was considered APEC's first major step to strengthen vision of a free trade area in the Asia - Pacific. Yet only a year later, the discussions at APEC have been overshadowed by a gloomy future of this much-anticipated document.

The incumbent US President Barack Obama's decision to abandon plans to ratify this document is like putting it in the coffin. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump did not hide his intention to ruin the TPP. In this context, the APEC Summit 2016 becomes more important than ever.

Many people predicted that this year's conference will be stirred up by China, with its multi-dimensional economic integration. Based on the simple agenda of the President of the host country - Peruvian Pedro Pablo Kuczynski - which includes human resource development, promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, regional food markets and regional economic integration - China will quickly win prestige.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had an intimate telephone conversation with US President-elect Trump, expressing concerns about trade protectionism, plans to take advantage of the APEC Summit. The first is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in which China plays a major role. Many major newspapers wrote about the struggle for influence between the TPP and RCEP.

Now when the TPP is about to become a thing of the past, some APEC members see the need of choosing new commercial cooperation agreements. In this context, a larger RCEP, which will be called the Free Trade Agreement of Asia - Pacific (FTAAP), is under great attention.

But RCEP seems to be too small compared to China’s recent program to search for influence, entitled "A belt, a path" - or the Silk Road economic belt and the Silk Road on the sea in the 21st century. This is a big proposal, perhaps the largest ever. Beijing is seeking to converge all Asian countries in its west, the entire Middle East except Iran and Israel, plus Central and Eastern Europe.

One of China’s large projects is the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which attracted the attention of 57 countries worldwide, including US allies. If this bank develops correctly as China’s "design", AIIB will outstrip the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

For some countries, the APEC Summit will listen to, discuss and begin to make important decisions about the new order centered by China when Washington under the reign of Donald Trump prepares to reduce its role in global issues.

However, many APEC countries said that the APEC Summit in Peru this time can be a forum to send a message to the new administration of the US that they should continue to participate, rather than withdraw from the TPP, if they do not want to be marginalized, especially in the region that is growing rapidly in the Pacific Rim.

Duc Dan