Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that economic protectionism is overshadowing global growth and urged countries to pursue free trade policies.

“One who chooses to close his door will only cut himself off from the rest of the world and lose his direction,” Xi told a summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) chief executives on Saturday.

Xi urged the world to “say no to protectionism and unilateralism”, warning it was a “short-sighted approach” that was “doomed to failure”.

Speaking after Xi, US Vice President Mike Pence told the summit that Washington will not change its approach until Beijing changes its own trade policies.

He also warned that the US could double the tariffs already imposed on Chinese goods.

“We have taken decisive action to address our imbalance with China,” he said. “We put tariffs on $250bn in Chinese goods, and we could more than double that number.”

“The US will not change course until China changes its ways.”

The two countries have been involved in an escalating trade war this year, imposing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods, and have said that the tariffs could be increased.

Experts have warned that the tit-for-tat trade war could seriously harm the global economy.

The APEC summit in Papua New Guinea of leaders from 21 countries across the region has developed into a tussle for influence between an increasingly assertive China and a more withdrawn US.

Saturday’s summit of CEOs is the precursor to the official leaders’ meeting, which will take place on Sunday.

Xi criticised “America First” trade protectionism and stressed that global trade rules should not be applied “with double standards or selfish agendas.”

In a rebuke to China, Pence met with the representative from Taiwan, a self-governing island which China considers to be part of its own territory.

He also announced the US would join with Australia in the development of a new naval base.

Pence also mocked China’s Belt-and-Road initiative, under which China offers loans to poorer countries in the region to improve infrastructure.

He said the terms of China’s loans were “opaque at best” and “too often, they come with strings attached and lead to staggering debt.”

“Do not accept foreign debt that could compromise your sovereignty,” he said.

“We don’t drown our partners in a sea of debt… We don’t coerce, corrupt, or compromise your independence. The United States deals openly and fairly.”

In his own address, Xi defended the policy, saying there was no “hidden political agenda…nor is it a trap as some people have labelled it.”

He also warned that no one would gain from the tensions between Beijing and Washington.

“History has shown that confrontation – whether in the form of a cold war, hot war or trade war – will produce no winners,” he said.

Pence also said that The US wanted a “better relationship” with China, if it respects its neighbours’ sovereignty, embraced “free, fair and reciprocal trade” and its human rights record.

Reporting from the Papua New Guinean capital Port Moresby, Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas said the Saturday speeches set a competitive rather than a cooperative tone for the summit.

“[Pence and Xi] represent the two biggest economies that are part of the APEC group,” he said. “Mike Pence used his speech to take a lot of digs at China, particularly the way that China goes around making loans… President Xi was all about [US President] Donald Trump’s tariffs. Trump might not be here but his policies are certainly being talked about.”

Thomas added that the fringe events at the summit provided more insight into the wider geopolitical aims of the participants, with China looking to boost support for its position on Taiwan.

“It is the bilateral meetings, the sideline meetings that perhaps tell us more about what’s going on here,” Thomas said. “President Xi on Friday night hosted a reception for Pacific island leaders, particularly those he invests heavily in, in terms of aid and investment projects, but also, interestingly, only those Pacific island countries that recognise China and not Taiwan.

“Meanwhile, across town, Taiwan hosted its own event for the smaller number of countries that recognise it.

“So, just [as] with aid and investment, food and drinks receptions come with strings attached. If you want them from China’s President then you better recognise China and not Taiwan…It’s that geopolitical context that’s on show here, as much as it’s about the official talks.”

Trump is set to meet Xi at the G20 summit in Argentina next month.

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams has vowed to sue the US state of Georgia for “gross mismanagement” of the gubernatorial election after withdrawing from the race.

Abrams, who aimed to become the country’s first black woman governor, on Friday acknowledged at a news conference that she had lost an election to Republican Brian Kemp, accusing him of voter suppression.

“Let be clear, this is not a speech of concession because concession means to acknowledge an action is right true or proper… I cannot concede that,” she said.

Following Friday’s appearance, Abrams tweeted she would be suing Georgia “for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions”.

In the coming days, we will be filing a major federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions. #gapol

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) November 17, 2018

Abrams, a 44-year-old Yale-educated lawyer, has been a Democrat in the Georgia legislature for about 10 years, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017 in the traditionally Republican southern state.

Unofficial returns showed Kemp, the 55-year-old businessman who oversaw the election as Georgia’s secretary of state, ahead by about 60,000 votes out of nearly four million cast on November 6.

Kemp declared himself governor-elect the next day and stepped down as Georgia’s secretary of state, though thousands of absentee and provisional ballots remained uncounted.

Kemp issued a statement late on Friday noting the election was “over and hard-working Georgians are ready to move forward”.

“We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia’s bright and promising future,” he said.

The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward. We can no longer dwell on the divisive politics of the past but must focus on Georgia’s bright and promising future. #gapol (1 of 3)

— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) November 16, 2018

The race grabbed the attention of the nation, with Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Abrams in the final days and President Donald Trump holding a rally for Kemp.

Trump praised the Democrat in lauding Kemp’s victory, tweeting: “Congratulations to Brian Kemp on becoming the new Governor of Georgia. Stacey Abrams fought brilliantly and hard – she will have a terrific political future! Brian was unrelenting and will become a great Governor for the truly Wonderful People of Georgia!”

Kemp’s victory is an important marker for Republicans ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Kemp’s narrow margin already suggests that Georgia, a state Trump won by five percentage points in 2016, could be a genuine battleground in two years.

Recovery teams with cadaver dogs pressed on with their search for more victims in a flame-ravaged northern California town on Friday as authorities sought clues to the fate of more than 1,000 people reported missing in the deadliest wildfire in state history.

Remains of at least 71 people have been recovered so far in and around the Sierra foothills hamlet of Paradise, which was home to nearly 27,000 residents before the town was largely incinerated by the deadly Camp Fire on the night of November 8.

More than a week later, firefighters have managed to carve containment lines around 45 percent of the blaze’s perimeter, up from 35 percent a day earlier, even as the burned landscape grew slightly to 142,000 acres (57,000 hectares).

Besides the toll on human life, property losses from the blaze make it California’s most the destructive on record, posing a challenge of providing long-term shelter for many thousands of displaced residents.

With more than 12,000 homes and other structures up in smoke, many survivors of the fire have taken up temporary residence with friends and family, while others have pitched tents or were camping out of their vehicles.

More than 1,100 evacuees were being housed in 14 emergency shelters set up in churches, schools and community centers around the region, American Red Cross spokeswoman Greta Gustafson said.

Authorities said more than 47,000 people in all remain under evacuation orders in the region.

More than 450 searchers, meanwhile, combed through charred, rubble-strewn expanses of burned-out neighborhoods looking for bodies – or anything else that might carry human DNA for identification purposes.

‘Dynamic list’ of missing

On Friday night, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the latest official roster of people reported unaccounted for by loved ones had grown to 1,011.

“This is a dynamic list,” Honea told reporters at a news conference, explaining that the list was compiled from “raw data” that likely included some duplication of names due to possible spelling errors and multiple sources of information.

He said the roster probably includes some who fled the blaze and do not realize they’ve been reported missing.

“We are still receiving calls, we’re still reviewing emails,” Honea said Friday.

Some on the list have been confirmed as dead by family and friends on social media. Others have been located and are safe, but authorities haven’t gotten around to marking them as found.

The sheriff said he was determined to release an unrefined version of the list so as not to “let perfection get in the way of progress” authorities hope to make in resolving the fate of those still missing.

Meanwhile, the remains of eight more fire victims were recovered on Friday, bringing the death toll to 71, he said.

The disaster already ranks among the deadliest wildfires in the United States since the turn of the last century.

Authorities attribute the death toll partly to the speed with which flames raced through the town with little advance warning, driven by howling winds and fueled by drought-desiccated scrub and trees.

Concerns over Trump visit

The updated death toll comes ahead of a planned visit by President Donald Trump on Saturday.

Some survivors resent that Trump took to Twitter two days after the disaster to blame the wildfires on poor forest mismanagement. He threatened to withhold federal payments from California.

“If you insult people, then you go visit them, how do you think you’re going to be accepted? You’re not going to have a parade,” Maggie Crowder of Magalia said Thursday outside an informal shelter at a Walmart parking lot in Chico.

But Stacy Lazzarino, who voted for Trump, said it would be good for the president to see the devastation up close.

“I think by maybe seeing it he’s going to be like ‘Oh, my goodness,’ and it might start opening people’s eyes,” she told the Associated Press.

In a Fox News interview on the eve of his visit, the president repeated his criticism. Asked if he thought climate change contributed to the fires, he said, “Maybe it contributes a little bit. The big problem we have is management.”

California’s outgoing and incoming governors said they would join Trump on Saturday.

Democrats Governor Jerry Brown and governor-elect Gavin Newsom said they welcomed the president’s visit and “now is a time to pull together for the people of California.” Brown and Newsom have been vocal critics of Trump.

There were also worries the presidential visit would be disruptive.

“It’s already a zoo here and I don’t care who the president is. He needs to wait because the traffic’s already horrendous,” said Charlotte Harkness, whose home in Paradise burned down. “He could just tweet something nice – three words: ‘I am sorry,’ and that’s fine.”

In Southern California , meanwhile, more residents were being allowed back in their homes near Los Angeles after a blaze torched an area the size of Denver and destroyed more than 600 homes and other structures. The blaze was 69 percent contained, authorities said.

At least three deaths were reported.

Schools across a large swath of the state were closed because of smoke, and San Francisco’s world-famous open-air cable cars were pulled off the streets.