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Foreign Ministers and Trade Ministers from Apec countries at the summit in Singapore - Source: Reuters
Twenty years after the start of Apec, which brings together 21 Asia Pacific economies accounting for more than half of world economic output, questions remain about the future of Asian economic integration.
Will free trade forays between China, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, lead to "a line down the middle of the Pacific", separating Asia economically from the rest of world?
Or will Asia pursue an open model of economic integration, consistent with unfulfilled goals set in 1994, which called for free trade among developed Apec economies by 2010 and among the developing members of the group by 2020?
As leaders gather this week in Singapore for the annual Apec summit, here's a sampling of trade deals in the region:
Asean
Seven of the 10 members of Asean are also members of Apec -
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam. The non-Apec members are Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar.
The grouping, which includes some 580 million people, already has free trade deals with China, South Korea and Japan, has signed pacts with Australia and New Zealand and India and is negotiating with the European Union.
The United States has a free trade pact with one Asean member, Singapore, but talks with Malaysia and Thailand on similar deals were never concluded.
Japan
Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has called for an "East
Asia Community" encompassing Japan, China, South Korea, India,
Australia and New Zealand along with Asean.
One aim of the potentially decade-long project would be reduced
dependence on the United States and big Western markets as Asia
leads the way out of the global economic downturn.
Tokyo already has free trade pacts with Asean, Brunei, Chile,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and has been
negotiating potential deals with Australia, the Gulf Cooperation
Council, South Korea and Peru.
China
The country many call the "world's factory" has free
trade pacts with Asean, Chile, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru,
Singapore and Thailand, and is negotiating with Australia, Costa
Rica, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iceland and Norway.
It has been studying the possibility of a free trade pact with
South Korea, a trilateral free trade pact with South Korea and
Japan, and pacts with India, South Africa and the Southern African
Customs Union.
United States
Washington has free trade pacts with six countries in the Apec
region, including Canada and Mexico as part of NAFTA. The others
are with Australia, Singapore, Peru and Chile.
Washington signed a free trade agreement with South Korea in June
2007 that is not yet approved.
President Barack Obama's administration has been considering
whether to negotiate free trade deals with Brunei and New Zealand
as part of the proposed Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic
Partnership agreement, which would join together US free trade
deals with Australia, Singapore, Chile and Peru and potentially
include other countries such as Vietnam.
The administration of former President George W Bush launched talks
with Thailand and Malaysia on free trade agreements, but did not
reach deals.
US Senator Richard Lugar has urged Obama to launch trade talks with
Asean when he meets with the group in Singapore.
South Korea
Seoul, which aims to become a hub for free trade agreements in
Northeast Asia, has wrapped up a deal with the European Union that
is expected to go into effect next year.
However, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has said Obama will not
submit the South Korea-US free trade agreement to Congress until
Seoul agrees to more concessions to open its markets to US autos
and other exports.
South Korea already has free trade deals with Asean, Chile and
Singapore. It is negotiating with Australia, India, Japan, Canada,
the Gulf Cooperation Council, Mexico and Peru.
India
Although not a member of Apec, Asia's third-largest
economy has signed a trade deal with Asean that goes into effect in
2010. It also has wrapped up negotiations on a free trade pact with
South Korea and is two years into negotiations with the European
Union on another deal.
It has been studying a trade pact with China for years and more
recently began looking at a deal with Australia.
Others
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore have each
stitched together a string of trade pacts in the region and are
actively negotiating more.
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