As leaders get ready for the third back-to-back summit this week, a Pacific-Rim summit taking place in a heavily guarded venue in Thailand’s capital, the great power rivalry Asia, inflation, and food and energy shortages are on the agenda.
On Friday and Saturday, formal meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s 21 leaders will take place behind closed doors. Although Vice President Kamala Harris, who is attending in place of President Joe Biden, will be representing the United States in Bangkok, for some it will be at least the third opportunity for in-person discussions in the previous two weeks.
The promotion of regional economic integration is APEC’s stated goal. The majority of negotiations take place in meetings held outside of the summit, like the one between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Tensions between the two Asian superpowers date back to Japan’s aggression during World War II, which was exacerbated by territory disputes and China’s expanding military capability. The meeting would “carry enormous importance,” according to Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Xi, Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron will also speak at a business conference held just ahead of the summit meetings that is mostly closed to media apart from outlets sponsoring the event.
The APEC meetings are being held in downtown Bangkok’s main convention center, which is cordoned off with some streets in the area completely closed to all traffic. Rows of riot police stood guard behind the barricades at a major intersection nearby, underscoring host Thailand’s determination to ensure the summit suffers no disruptions.
“The APEC meeting this year takes place amidst a dual jeopardy. We need not be reminded of the severe security conflicts that know not what victory looks like. Meanwhile, the world is staring at the hyperinflation married to recession, a broken supply chain and scarcity and climate calamities,” Don Pramudwinai, Thailand’s foreign minister said in opening a meeting of foreign ministers and commerce ministers who were working on draft statements due to be issued after the summit.
Thai officials stated before the summit that they hoped to steer APEC toward long-term solutions in a number of areas, such as climate change, economic disruptions, and sluggish pandemic recovery.
“What we are 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, of course, waste management,” said Cherdchai Chaivaivid, director-general of Thailand’s Department of International Economic Affairs. “This is the first time that APEC is going to talk about this. This is the first time that we are going to open a new chapter in how trade, business, investment should be done.”
APEC’s official mission is to promote regional economic integration, which means 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 such as trade, tourism, forestry, health, food, security, small and medium-size enterprises and women’s empowerment.
On both sides of the Pacific, the leaders of the 21 economies frequently use this occasion for bilateral discussions and side deals. Chile, Mexico, and Peru make up the Latin American contingent. Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam are the other members.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Biden are no-shows this year. Putin has been avoiding international forums and Biden will be hosting his granddaughter’s wedding at the White House.
That leaves Chinese leader Xi as the star attendee in Bangkok, where he also is making an official visit to Thailand just after obtaining a rare third term as top leader at a once-in-five years Communist Party congress.
Biden is giving ground to China in the competition for friends and influence in Southeast Asia by skipping the APEC meetings. But U.S. officials say Washington has demonstrated its seriousness in relations with the region through frequent visits by Cabinet members including Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and other key senior officials.
As host, Thailand invited three special guests to the meeting: the French president Macron; Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was to represent the Association of Southeast Asian Nations but will not attend after getting COVID-19.
For Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the most welcome visitor may well be the Saudi leader, who is making an official visit to help restore friendly relations with Thailand after decades of disruption due to a theft of Saudi royal jewelry and the unsolved murders of Saudi diplomats in Bangkok.
“This is a good opportunity, that Mohammed bin Salman is visiting Thailand and both countries will resume a good 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 important this region is.”
Indonesia, which hosted the Group of 20 summit in Bali this week, and Cambodia, which hosted the ASEAN meetings, Thai officials have put the best possible face on the situation, contending that agreement on other points will allow APEC to move forward regardless.
Skeptics doubt the meeting will accomplish much.
“This APEC is only a photo 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.
