Full coverage: Xi Visits Ecuador, Peru and Chile, Attends APEC Summit

First up, we look at Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to Latin America and the APEC meeting that he will attend in Peru.

President Xi is in Quito, Ecuador's capital city. Xi's stop in Quito is the first state visit to Ecuador in 36 years by a Chinese head-of-state.

The two countries have signed deals on industrial capacity cooperation, energy, mining, infrastructure and finance. Xi's visit after Quito to Peru's capital city, Lima, will be a crucial one. That's because the US-election-induced coma of the Trans-Pacific Partnership means that China has an opportunity to promote the broader China-backed RCEP.

That comes as Latin America is at a cross-road concerning trade relations. The continent sees commodity trade with China cooling and has started to look north for manufacturing exports that can create more jobs at home.

Still, Peru's trade ministry said this week that it's engaging China in RCEP negotiations.

Analysts say that could be key as China moves to gain support for the RCEP from former TPP backers in the Americas.