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Apec summit 2015i

Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec)  bloc converge in Manila for two days of talks on November 18-19, 2015. Founded in 1989 in Canberra, Australia, Apec aims to demolish barriers to trade and investment through nonbinding accords. The unwieldy grouping of countries and self-governing territories that range from liberal democracies to dictatorships accounts for three billion people, half of global trade and 60 per cent of world GDP.

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Hongkongers have long regarded the Philippines with barely-concealed contempt. However, times have changed. The Philippines is no longer a basket case.

President Xi Jinping did not talk like he was an “elder brother” and seemed “very sincere” during a meeting in Beijing in November, Philippine President Benigno Aquino has said.