As Trump whiplash looms, APEC closes in Peru with China’s President Xi front and center
After two days of meetings in Lima that rarely ventured beyond platitudes in discussing the strategies of the region’s major economies, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wraps up with a spirit of detente that many fear the annual summit may n...
LIMA, Peru — After two days of meetings in Lima that rarely ventured beyond platitudes in discussing the strategies of the region’s major economies, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wrapped up Saturday with a spirit of detente that many fear the annual summit may not see again for four years.
The 21 leaders from economies bordering the Pacific, including U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, descended on Peru this week at a time when America’s incoming president, Donald Trump, has vowed to withdraw the U.S. from its leadership of a global free trade agenda.
Few could help noting that Biden’s late entrance to the traditional APEC family photo Saturday lent itself to political metaphor, as the rest of the leaders prepared to pose onstage before looking around to find Biden missing.
They tittered for five awkward minutes before a seemingly dazed Biden emerged and took his place in the far back corner, standing between Thailand’s 38-year-old Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Vietnam President Luong Cuong. Descending the stage, Biden briefly reached for Shinawatra’s hand to steady himself.
Chinese President Xi scored the best spot in the house, front and center beside the host, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte. He draped himself in the banner of globalization this week, inaugurating a massive $1.3 billion megaport in Peru that promises to become South America’s biggest shipping hub and using his speeches to reject protectionism.
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