ASEAN, Hong Kong sign deal in 'vote for open trade'

Hong Kong and Southeast Asian nations signed a free trade deal yesterday, in what one minister described as a "clear vote" against protectionism, as the United States withdraws into its "America First" rhetoric.

The city, a special administrative region of China, forged the agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the sidelines of a summit in Manila to be attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump.

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The ministers were meeting just days after Trump accused Asia-Pacific nations of undercutting his country -- the world's largest economy -- during another regional meeting in Vietnam.

"In the face of protectionistic sentiments in other parts of the world, (this agreement is) in fact a loud and clear vote from all of us here for free and more open trade," Edward Yau, Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, said during the signing ceremony.

Trump has unpicked decades of US-led efforts towards more open global trade and lower tariffs, pulling his nation from the sprawling Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact which had included four ASEAN members.

China has moved to occupy the space vacated by the US, positioning itself as the champion of a world with fewer barriers to commerce, even as critics accuse it of its own brand of protectionism.

ASEAN, an economic bloc with a combined population of more than 600 million, is Hong Kong's second-largest trading partner after mainland China, according to the territory's Trade and Industry Department website.

Hong Kong acts as an important entrepot for trade between mainland China and ASEAN, an economic grouping made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.