APEC leaders slam war, renew open trade calls

BANGKOK: Leaders from around the Asia-Pacific called for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine and pledged to steer the region’s economies toward sustainable growth as they wrapped up summit meetings on Saturday.

Host Thailand garnered a diplomatic coup in managing to bridge divisions among the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum by saying that most members had condemned the war. Russia is an APEC member, as is China, which generally has refrained from criticizing Moscow.

The declaration issued by APEC leaders acknowledged differing views on the war and said the forum, which is devoted largely to promoting trade and closer economic ties, was not a venue for resolving such conflicts.

But it noted that the war and other security issues “can have significant consequences for the global economy.”

It said most members had strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it was causing immense human suffering and worsening inflation, supply chain troubles, food insecurity and financial risks.

The statement echoed the wording of a March 2 United Nations General Assembly resolution that “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.”

Also on Saturday, a White House official said United States Vice President Kamala Harris exchanged brief remarks with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the final APEC meeting began, calling for both sides to keep lines of communication open.

The 21-member APEC’s longterm mission is to promote closer economic ties, but its summits often are sidetracked by other more urgent issues.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha opened Saturday’s meeting by urging the leaders to push ahead with APEC’s agenda of promoting free trade in the Pacific region.

“We have to give priority to turning this plan into action,” Prayuth said.

Saturday’s meetings wrapped up a flurry of leaders’ summits in Southeast Asian countries this week. Much of the activity at such gatherings occurs on the sidelines and in the interludes before and after meetings begin.

Harris and the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea met separately on Friday to voice concerns about North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido earlier in the day.

The summits over the past week gave leaders a chance for face-to-face encounters that have been rare in the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Both at APEC and at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, officials appear to have chosen to agree to disagree about the war. In both Bangkok and Bali, countries that had refused to condemn the invasion refrained from blocking the release of statements harshly criticizing Moscow.

APEC members account for nearly four of every 10 people and almost half of the world trade. Much of APEC’s work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas such as trade, forestry, health, food, security, small and medium enterprises, and women’s empowerment.

Other APEC members are Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was to represent the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but did not attend after getting Covid-19.

The summit venue, at Bangkok’s main convention center near a vast parkland, was cordoned off with some streets closed to traffic. Riot police stood guard behind barricades at a major intersection, keeping protesters well at bay.

But police clashed in another area of Bangkok with demonstrators who took the opportunity of the APEC meeting to renew calls for democratic reforms in Thailand and accuse the government of promoting policies to the regional forum that favor big business over ordinary people.