Pacific Rim trade ministers have called for “concrete steps” to be taken this year towards establishing a broad free trade area some see as a Chinese effort to respond to a US-led push in the region.

Trade ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) countries, including China and the US, said in a statement on Sunday that they had agreed to set up a committee to “kick off and advance the process” of establishing a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. They also said they had agreed to pursue the pact with “intensified focus” and “by taking concrete steps forward in 2014”.

The call for greater economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region came as Vietnamese authorities sought to bring an end to the series of deadly anti-China protests that followed a move by Beijing to begin drilling for oil in a disputed part of the South China Sea. It also fits into a bigger strategic context, with the US and China both manoeuvring for influence in the region.