China and the US ignored sustained pressure from a series of countries and instead escalated their trade war at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting hosted by Papua New Guinea.

But the prime minister says the APEC meeting was a success even though it ended without an official statement.

The two superpowers could not agree on the wording, making it the first time an APEC summit has failed to produce an communique.

"I can say very clearly that the other economies around the table here ... made very clear to both the United States and China that we want to see these issues resolved," Mr Morrison told reporters in PNG on Monday.

"We've reflected those positions to both China and the United States with the opportunities we've had here and as well (at the East Asia Summit) in Singapore.

"There's a clear frustration that has been expressed by many of the countries around the table."

The US says China is taking advantage of World Trade Organisation rules by still claiming "developing nation status", despite being one of the world's largest economies.

But the US has also been accused of undermining the multilateral trade system under President Donald Trump.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said APEC was a "disappointing" lost opportunity to bring China and the US together.

"I don't think we can live in a world of denial and pretend APEC was a success when it wasn't," he told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Morrison said in a statement in response that the Labor leader's comments were "deeply disrespectful" to PNG and others involved in the summit.

"Unlike Mr Shorten, I am not panicked by these events, and understand that the best way to pursue our interest in these situations is to keep our heads and keep working with both the US and China to achieve the goal of reconciling their differences, which both presidents will seek to address at the G20," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison said disagreements occurred in all "families".

"If the major powers here are not going to agree, we shouldn't be pretending that they do and we shouldn't be trying to smooth that over for the sake of a communique."

He said China's WTO status was a complex issue, as the nation had high-tech cities while hundreds of millions of people live in difficult circumstances.

The prime minister praised PNG's hosting of the event, at which Australia announced extra scholarships for Pacific students to study in Australia, a "Pacific Australia Card" to ease travel rules, a joint expansion of the Lombrum naval base on Manus Island and a major electrification project in PNG.

Australian Associated Press