According to him, a statement is expected to be issued at the Manila summit in support of the multilateral trade system in the Asia-Pacific.
"The FTAAP, if implemented, will be the largest free trade area in the region, consolidating a myriad of already existing FTAs between China and major economies in the region," said Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant professor of political science at De La Salle University in the Philippines.
The FTAAP is seen as both comprehensive and flexible, and many countries are carefully looking at its feasibility studies, he said.
Tang Guoqiang, chairman of the China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, said the FTAAP can become an "aggregation" of existing free trade arrangements.
Negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade pact involving the 10-member ASEAN and six other countries, including China, have entered a crucial phase.
In addition, the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was released on Nov. 5, one month after 12 Pacific Rim countries concluded talks on the trade deal.
"China, as the world's second largest economy and the engine of the Asia-Pacific regional economy, is of paramount importance to regional economic integration. At the same time, China is open to every multilateral trade mechanism in the region," said Tang.
FIVE-YEAR PLAN BRINGS "CHINA OPPORTUNITIES"
In early November, a key meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued the full text of proposals for China's development from 2016 to 2020, setting a target of "maintaining medium-high growth" and saying that an annual growth of 6.5 percent would be required for China to "build a moderately prosperous society" by 2020.
The meeting also emphasized that China should "highlight innovation, coordination, the environment, opening up and sharing" to fulfill its economic goals.
"The growth rate of 6.5 percent is still quite high compared with other economies in the region," said Tang.
He predicted that China will undertake deeper reform and wider opening-up in its 13th Five-Year Plan period, the home stretch for China to realize a moderately prosperous society.
For instance, green development, which is a key word for the five-year plan, will bring opportunities for countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as China will import a variety of products relating to new energy, such as electric vehicles, said Tang.
He added that in the coming five years, China will further be open to the world, particularly the Asia-Pacific region, through projects like the Belt and Road Initiative.
In the opinion of Benito Lim, a professor of political science at Ateneo de Manila University, China is widely recognized as the leading economy in the Asia-Pacific region.
"If the Chinese economy grows at relatively high speed, it will benefit the whole region through trade and commerce," said Lim, who is also a former Philippine diplomat to China.
Through the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), he noted, China not only provides investment for infrastructure construction, but also "literally opens the market for the rest of the countries in Eurasia."
"It is a very unusual pursuit and new strategy that I've never seen before. Through the initiative, China encourages countries to form economic partnerships and really promote connectivity and integration," he said.
