SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took a thinly veiled swipe at China on Tuesday on the eve of a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the first face-to-face summit between the U.S. and Chinese leaders in a year.

Addressing a ministerial meeting of the 21-member APEC in San Francisco, Blinken stressed the United States believed in "a region where economies are free to choose their own path ... where goods, ideas, people, flow lawfully and freely.”

China's President Xi Jinping is expected in San Francisco later on Tuesday on his first visit to the United States since 2017. He is due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at an undisclosed location in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday morning and then attend the APEC summit. REUTERS