China blames "excuses" for lack of agreement at APEC, as US ties sour again

A major Asia-Pacific summit's failure to agree on a communique resulted from certain countries "excusing" protectionism, a top Chinese diplomat said, in a veiled criticism of Washington that further sours the tone of China-U.S. ties ahead of a G20 meet.

After months of bickering over a damaging trade war, the disputed South China Sea and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan, the two nations' presidents took a step back from the edge with an ice-breaking telephone call early this month.

While both U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed optimism about resolving their trade war ahead of a planned meeting at the G20 meeting in Argentina at the end of next week, relations have since faltered again.

The weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby was one of open disagreement, topped by disputes between the U.S. and China over trade, security and which would be the better investment partner for the region.

For the first time, the gathered leaders failed to agree to a joint communique, against the backdrop of the bitter trade war.

The inability to reach a communique was "by no means accidental," the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, said in comments on the foreign ministry's website late on Monday.

"It is mainly that individual economies insisted on imposing their own texts on other parties, excusing protectionism and unilateralism, and not accepting reasonable revisions from the Chinese and other parties," the ministry cited Wang as saying, without naming any country, in an oblique reference to the United States.

"This practice caused dissatisfaction among many economies, including China, and it is obviously not in line with the consensus principle adhered to by APEC."Consensus is where the value lies in APEC, Wang added.

"It is in the joint interests of all parties and cannot be ignored and abandoned."

On Monday, China's foreign ministry said the United States, whose delegation at the summit was led by Vice President Mike Pence, attended APEC in a "blaze of anger", and that China had not gone to "get into a boxing ring".

Pence said the United States would not back down from the trade dispute, and might even double tariffs, unless Beijing bowed to U.S. demands.