PHNOM PENH, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea announced here Tuesday the launch of the FTA talks on the occasion of 21st Summit and Related Summits.

Nov 20 (Reuters) - China is to ask the World Trade Organization to rule on its latest commercial spat with the United States, the WTO said on Tuesday, hoping it will back Beijing's complaint that punitive U.S. tariffs imposed on a raft of Chinese goods are illegal.

Nov 19 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and southeast Asian leaders launched an initiative aimed at expanding trade and investment ties between the United States and 10 countries in southeast Asia, the White House said on Monday. The countries announced the start of the process at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, in Cambodia, where Obama is visiting Phnom Penh for a regional summit.

China says it will change its restrictive policy on certain steel imports from the United States after the World Trade Organisation declared it was in breach of international trade rules. After a meeting of the world trade arbiter's dispute settlement body in Geneva, China said that although it "may not agree" with all the WTO's findings, it would respect and "work hard to implement" them.

PHNOM PENH — Southeast Asian nations will launch talks this week for a giant free trade pact with China, Japan, India and other neighbours aimed at easing the region's reliance on the struggling West. The planned zone would would span across 16 countries of the Asia-Pacific that currently account for a third of global trade and economic output, making it the biggest free trade area outside the World Trade Organization.

A joint statement by Mr Obama and Ms Yingluck on Sunday evening is expected to affirm Thailand's interest in joining the TPP pact. Mr Obama, who will make his first visit to Thailand today as part of a four-day Southeast Asian tour, has made expanding the TPP a top priority for US foreign and trade policies. "A number of parties have expressed concern about Thailand's participation in the TPP,'' Ms Yingluck said on Saturday.

BANGKOK (AP) — For President Obama, expanding U.S. influence in Asia is more than just countering China or opening up new markets to American businesses. It's also about building his legacy. Fresh off re-election, Obama will make a significant investment in that effort during a quick run through Southeast Asia that begins Sunday. In addition to stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the president will make a historic visit to Myanmar, where his administration has led efforts to ease the once pariah nation out of international isolation.

The Democratic Party of Japan released a draft of its election manifesto that strengthens its anti-nuclear stance but makes little mention of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s push for Japan’s participation in free trade talks. The party’s draft manifesto, released on Nov. 16, repeated the DPJ’s call for abolishing all of Japan’s nuclear power plants by the end of the 2030s. It also called for a review from scratch of the recycling program of spent nuclear fuel—a program considered a national policy.

Speaking in Singapore on the eve of President Barack Obama's three-day visit to Southeast Asia, Mrs Clinton said the US aimed to combine the 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership with other regional trade agreements to transform global commerce. Washington would also use its diplomats at more than 270 embassies and consulates to advocate for firms such as Chevron Corp, Boeing Co and General Motors, she said. "For the first time in modern history, nations are becoming major global powers without also becoming global military powers," Mrs Clinton said.

Thailand has agreed to join negotiations in a United States-led free trade agreement (FTA) in a move which will be formally announced during President Barack Obama's visit here on Sunday. Thailand's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a highlight of the visit by the US president amid concern by activists over the consequences of the far-reaching free trade pact. The TPP is a proposed regional FTA being negotiated by the US and several Asia-Pacific nations, including Australia, Canada, Vietnam, Mexico and six other countries.