ADVERTISEMENT

Call for open markets as world leaders gather in Singapore

Dignitaries including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and US Vice President Mike Pence are attending this week's summit in the city-state against the backdrop of a months-long trade dispute between Beijing and Washington.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called for markets across Southeast Asia to be more open

Some of the leaders are expected to announce major progress on a massive China-backed trade deal that excludes the US, in a rebuke to President Donald Trump's increasingly unilateralist approach to international commerce.

Trump is skipping the annual summit -- which was regularly attended by his predecessor Barack Obama -- in a sign of how far he has withdrawn from attempts to shape the global rules of trade and raising new questions about Washington's commitment to Asia.

ADVERTISEMENT

Addressing a business forum ahead of this week's main meetings, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for Southeast Asian companies to invest more in each others' markets and be more open to foreign competition.

"The more integrated and open our markets are, and the more conducive our rules and business environments to foreign investment, the larger the pie will grow, and the more we will all benefit," he said.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "has great potential, but fully realising it depends on whether we choose to become more integrated, and work resolutely towards this goal in a world where multilateralism is fraying under political pressures".

Economic standoff

The US-China trade dispute has seen Trump slap higher tariffs on roughly half of Chinese imports, and Beijing retaliate with its own levies.

ADVERTISEMENT

The standoff is having an impact far beyond the world's top two economies, and leaders at the four days of meetings will be keen to voice their grievances to Pence, who is participating in Trump's place, and China's Li.

While Trump has railed at trade deals and pushed his isolationist "America First" agenda, Beijing has increasingly talked up the benefits of open markets.

In an editorial in Singapore's pro-government Straits Times newspaper Monday, China's Li said the world was facing "challenges of rising protectionism and unilateralism".

"We should work for an open world economy by advocating, practising and upholding openness," he wrote.

ADVERTISEMENT

This week's meetings are the biggest in a series of gatherings organised every year by ASEAN.

The main summit day is on Thursday, and the meetings are being attended by 20 world leaders, including those from the Southeast Asian bloc as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Many of those attending the summit are expected to send a message in support of free trade by announcing major progress on a China-backed deal, the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

With Trump having pulled the US out of rival pact the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the RCEP is now the world's biggest trade deal, covering half the world's population.

The pact -- which is less ambitious than the TPP in areas such as employment and environmental protection -- groups the 10 ASEAN members plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

ADVERTISEMENT

The TPP, which was championed by Obama as the economic plank of his "pivot to Asia", has been kept alive without the US and will go into force this year.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng

Recommended articles

Governor Idris plans to transform political thugs into employers of labour

Governor Idris plans to transform political thugs into employers of labour

Wike set to use ₦1.15trn to transform FCT, rural communities for better living

Wike set to use ₦1.15trn to transform FCT, rural communities for better living

16 victims kidnapped in Katsina rescued after 46 days in captivity

16 victims kidnapped in Katsina rescued after 46 days in captivity

You can go to prison for 7 years in Nigeria for using underage housemaids

You can go to prison for 7 years in Nigeria for using underage housemaids

Peter Obi explains why he joined Muslims to break fast in Abuja mosque

Peter Obi explains why he joined Muslims to break fast in Abuja mosque

Plateau commission demands justice for rape and murder of 9-year-old girl

Plateau commission demands justice for rape and murder of 9-year-old girl

Peter Obi breaking fast with Muslims in Abuja mosque gets Nigerians talking

Peter Obi breaking fast with Muslims in Abuja mosque gets Nigerians talking

Video of weird school competition shows young students licking one another's feet

Video of weird school competition shows young students licking one another's feet

UniCal records highest number of first class graduates in 49 years

UniCal records highest number of first class graduates in 49 years

Pulse Sports

Super Eagles Bright Osayi-Samuel punches pitch invader as violence erupts following Trabzonspor vs Fenerbahce

Super Eagles Bright Osayi-Samuel punches pitch invader as violence erupts following Trabzonspor vs Fenerbahce

Naija Stars Abroad: Moffi, Chukwueze battle Oshoala, Echegini for POTW

Naija Stars Abroad: Moffi, Chukwueze battle Oshoala, Echegini for POTW

Report: Super Eagles get new coach for Ghana and Mali clash

Report: Super Eagles get new coach for Ghana and Mali clash

Osimhen misses out on N17b payday after Napoli's UCL loss to Barcelona

Osimhen misses out on N17b payday after Napoli's UCL loss to Barcelona

‘Thank you’ - Osimhen’s girlfriend Stefanie Ladewig grateful for being the mother of his child

‘Thank you’ - Osimhen’s girlfriend Stefanie Ladewig grateful for being the mother of his child

4 reasons why Victor Osimhen should choose Arsenal over Chelsea, Manchester United and PSG

4 reasons why Victor Osimhen should choose Arsenal over Chelsea, Manchester United and PSG

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT