IRIA News

Leaders from the Pacific Rim nations gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, to participate in the leaders’ meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit 2022 on November 19.  

APEC is a regional economic forum that was established in 1989 to promote economic integration among the countries of the Pacific Rim and beyond. APEC consists of 21 members and three invited members including France and Saudi Arabia.

Leaders and representatives from APEC states and invited members gathered in Bangkok as the summit comes shortly after several of the leaders attended the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. The main objectives of the APEC 2022 meeting remain coincided with those discussed at the G20 summit.

Who attended APEC 2022?

Similar to his unavailability for the G20 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not show up to attend the APEC meeting in 2022. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov represented Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden was also not present in Bangkok. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stood in for his place. After the meeting, Harris would travel to the Philippines where she would hold talks with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who also attended the APEC meeting in Bangkok.

China’s President Xi Jinping attended the APEC meeting. In the absence of Biden and Putin, the spotlight remains on Xi as he is one of the most prominent world leaders present at the meeting. Xi also held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-Chiu as well as the founder of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Morris Chang attended the APEC summit.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kashida, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and South Korea Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo were also present during the meeting. French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman attended the summit as invited guests.

Russia-Ukraine war

Similar to the G20 summit, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war remained one of the most prominent topics of discussion during the APEC meeting.  After failed consensus during the G20 summit, the APEC forum, traditionally aimed at investment deals and trade liberalization, provided the last opportunity for the world leaders to round up their diplomatic efforts in the region and attempt to find a consensus toward a secure a pathway for peace talks between the warring parties.

APEC ministerial-level meetings in the run-up to the November summit failed to issue a joint statement or communique spelling out the position on Ukraine. Expectations of any diplomatic breakthrough were low because major stakeholders such as U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were not present during the meeting.

China’s Xi Jinping takes the center stage

President Xi Jinping held several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the APEC summit. He met with the Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kashida in a bilateral meeting where the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues including the growing tensions in Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Japan lodged a diplomatic complaint in August against China after five ballistic missiles launched by the Chinese military fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The missiles were launched during a show of military power that came after U.S. House Leader Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-governed island of Taiwan.

The Chinese president also met briefly with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and both sides agreed to keep communication lines open between the two biggest economies. According to a White House spokesperson, “The [U.S.] Vice President noted a key message that President Biden emphasized in his November 14 meeting with President Xi: we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries.”

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr also met his Chinese counterpart for the first time in a bilateral setting after winning the elections. According to a statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “President Xi underscored China’s readiness to maintain regular communication with the Philippines and to continue to accommodate its concerns.” The statement further said that the two sides agreed to “work together to reject unilateralism and acts of bullying, defend fairness and justice, and safeguard peace and stability in the region.”

President Xi also held a one-on-one meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The two leaders met for about 50 minutes, running over the scheduled half-hour meeting, on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Bangkok. It was their first in-person meeting since 2019. A statement released by the New Zealand government said that Prime Minister Ardern spoke about “significant areas of bilateral cooperation including trade, agriculture, climate change, and the environment” and “the strength of our bilateral connections, and of the bilateral trade relationship, which provides significant benefit to both sides”.

North Korea’s missile test

Several of the APEC leaders condemned North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch that took place during the APEC summit on November 18. North Korea’s newly tested ICBM is capable of reaching the United States mainland. The missile is also capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand after the missile launch in a previously unscheduled meeting and press briefing.

“I have asked this group of allies and partners to come together to join us in condemning North Korea’s long-range ballistic missile launch,” she said. “I’ve also asked them to join in so that we as allies and partners can consult on next steps. This conduct by North Korea most recently is a brazen violation of multiple UN Security resolutions. It destabilizes security in the region and unnecessarily raises tensions.”

Joint Statement

Leaders of the 21 APEC member states adopted a joint statement at the end of the summit that had been agreed upon by the ministers of the member states. The statement incorporates a post-pandemic economic growth strategy. The statement also addresses environmental and climate issues, the war in Ukraine, and the cooperation between APEC’s 21 economies in pushing for the creation of a free trade area for the Asia-Pacific region,

On the war in Ukraine, the joint statement read that “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy, constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity and elevating financial stability risks.”

APEC 2023

The United States would take the mast to become the host for the APEC 2023 meetings. The U.S. city of San Francisco will host the leaders’ meeting of the APEC forum in 2023, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha jointly announced as the summit drew to a close in Bangkok. “I’m happy to hand over the chairmanship to the U.S. We are ready to conduct seamless cooperation with them,” Prime Minister Prayuth said, handing to Harris a “chalom”, a woven bamboo basket used to carry goods and gifts in Thailand.

The U.S. vice president wrote on Twitter that during her meeting with the prime minister of Thailand, she stressed that “the United States is committed to strengthening our Alliance with Thailand and the historic bonds between our people.”