The 22nd informal Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) informal economic leaders' meeting was held in Beijing on Nov.10 and 11, 2014. The world eagerly anticipated the achievements of the meeting.

Unlike the US-led 12-member Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which excludes China, and the ASEAN-led 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which excludes the U.S., the proposed FTAAP is a wider free trade initiative encompassing all of the 21 APEC economies.

The idea to establish FTAAP was first put forward in 2006. In 2010, APEC was established as an incubator of FTAAP in Yokohama.

With too many trade arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region, 2014 Beijing APEC set itself a clear vision of rationalizing the tangle of agreements. Compared with existing trade arrangements, FTAAP is a more balanced, generous and comprehensive approach to take into developed countries including the U.S. and Canada as well as developing countries like Peru and Papua New Guinea.

Although bilateral and mini-multilateral trade arrangements are more flexible and targeted, such arrangements are not capable of supporting development across the whole region. FTAAP is a mutually beneficial approach to integrating existing trade arrangements in the region.

Some worry that FTAAP will provoke competition for the dominant role in free trade affairs. However such worries seem groundless, as this free trade area proposal represents a wide range of interests in the region.

The article is edited and translated from《“北京方案”提升亚太区域一体化（望海楼）》, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition