After more than a year of increasingly scratchy relations between the United States and China, Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping managed to strike a markedly improved tone and announce some accomplishments at the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC), writes Douglas Paal.

During this week’s APEC summit in Beijing, Xi and Obama will hold a meeting about critical bilateral and global issues against the backdrop of a changing international and domestic landscape, writes Jiang Yuechun.

The Asian Pacific has seen a proliferation of Free Trade Associations over the years due to changing value chains, laws, and regional competition. Zhang Monan posits that the FTAAP would be the most beneficial and inclusive solution for the approaching APEC meeting in Beijing.

Dan Steinbock discusses the history of Asian-Pacific regional trade zones, and the U.S.’s geopolitical trade concerns with APEC. For the U.S. to see greater economic cooperation with China, it should consider the more inclusive FTAAP proposal.