By CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL, Associated Press
BANGKOK (AP) — Leaders from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum begin a two-day summit in Thailand’s capital on Friday with a crowded backdrop of issues to contend with: the war in Ukraine, great power rivalry in Asia, and the worldwide crises of food and energy shortages, inflation and provide chain disruptions.
“It is evident that this has been an eventful and difficult yr on many fronts,” said Thani Thongphakdi, everlasting secretary of Thailand’s Foreign Ministry. “Your entire APEC region, together with the worldwide economy, continues to be reeling from the consequences of COVID-19 and recovering amidst ongoing economic woes, tensions and crises which have affected all points of our lives.”
While APEC leaders grapple with these pressing issues, Thai officials are hoping to steer them toward long-term solutions.
“What we’re going to do is to have all economies agree on a set of targets … climate change mitigation, sustainable trade and investment, environment resources conservation and, after all, waste management,” said Cherdchai Chaivaivid, director-general of Thailand’s Department of International Economic Affairs. “That is the primary time that APEC goes to speak about this. That is the primary time that we’re going to open a recent chapter in how trade, business, investment needs to be done.”
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Established in 1989, APEC’s official mission is to advertise regional economic integration, which suggests setting guidelines for long-term development of a free trade area. Most of its work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas reminiscent of trade, tourism, forestry, health, food, security, small and medium-size enterprises and girls’s empowerment.
The private sector can be a serious player, with the APEC Business Advisory Council holding its own APEC CEO summit starting Thursday. Visiting world leaders will address the business community on concerns including sustainability and inclusive growth.
In practice, the annual APEC summit’s impact comes from bringing together leaders from the 21 economies on each side of the Pacific Ocean for bilateral talks and side deals. The Latin American contingent comes from Chile, Mexico and Peru. The opposite members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Latest Zealand, Papua Latest Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden are no-shows this yr. Putin has been avoiding international forums where he could be showered with criticism over his invasion of Ukraine. Biden might be hosting his granddaughter’s wedding on the White House and has sent Vice President Kamala Harris to represent him in Bangkok.
That leaves President Xi Jinping of China, which competes strongly with the U.S. for influence in Southeast Asia, because the star attendee on the APEC meeting. Along with APEC, he’s making an official visit to Thailand.
The Foreign Ministry’s Thani described Xi’s visit as “very significant” because it comes soon after China’s Communist Party held its every-five-year congress and gave Xi a rare third term as leader.
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday that Xi will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida through the APEC meeting. The 2 Asian powers have a history of tense relations, a legacy of Japan’s World War II aggression compounded by territorial disputes and China’s growing military might.
“This might be the primary official meeting between the 2 leaders and carry great importance,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.
Although Biden attended two other recent multilateral meetings within the region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia and the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, he has faced criticism that by not turning up for APEC, he’s giving ground to China within the competition for friends and influence in Southeast Asia.
U.S. officials say Washington has demonstrated its seriousness in relations with Southeast Asia with frequent visits by Cabinet members including Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and key senior officials.
As host, Thailand invited three special guests to the meeting: French President Emmanuel Macron, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, representing ASEAN. Hun Sen is not going to attend after testing positive for COVID-19.
For Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, essentially the most welcome visitor may be the Saudi leader, who’s making an official visit to assist restore friendly relations with Thailand after a long time of disruption as a result of a theft of Saudi royal jewelry and the unsolved murders of Saudi diplomats in Bangkok.
“That is a great opportunity, that Mohammed bin Salman is visiting Thailand and each countries will resume a great economic relationship after over 30 years,” the chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Sanan Angubolkul, told The Associated Press. “To have the French president join us also shows how necessary this region is.”
The overhang of international politics suggests that the meeting is not going to be smooth sailing. Its disruptive potential became evident during APEC ministerial-level meetings earlier this yr, none of which were capable of issue a consensus statement due to disagreements over whether to say Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Thai officials have put one of the best possible face on the situation, contending that agreement on other points will allow APEC to maneuver forward regardless.
Thailand hopes to make its mark by having the meeting adopt what would turn out to be often called APEC’s Bangkok Goals, with a heavy emphasis on sustainability.
“The Bangkok Goals will give attention to advancing work on 4 key areas: on addressing all environmental challenges, including climate change, on progress in sustainable and inclusive trade and investment, and promoting sustainable management of natural resources, protection of the environment and biodiversity, and on advancing resource efficiency and sustainable waste management,” Thani said.
Skeptics doubt the meeting will accomplish much.
“This APEC is simply a photograph opportunity for leaders. Its agenda has drawn much less attention than the ASEAN summit and G-20,” Virot Ali, a political scientist at Thailand’s Thammasat University, told The Associated Press.
“I don’t think we’ll see any progress from APEC. The present geopolitics, trade war, COVID-19, and Russia-Ukraine war are the problems that individuals are paying more attention to and feeling more impact from,” he said.
Associated Press journalists Grant Peck and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.
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