With Biden and Putin absent from APEC, China’s Xi takes center stage

By Simone McCarthy, CNN

Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Bangkok Thursday for the last of three back-to-back international summits held over the past week in Asia — this time for a gathering where the leaders of the United States and Russia will both be absent.

That leaves Xi primed to enter the two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in the Thai capital without needing to face US President Joe Biden at an economic summit focused on a region at the heart of the US-China contest.

The expected absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bangkok, as in Bali for the Group of 20 (G20) summit earlier this week, will also leave Xi unencumbered by the optics of meeting a counterpart he’s described as a bosom friend, who has become a pariah in the West following his invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, Xi will be a key figure among a list of participants from a region where Washington and Beijing have long vied for influence, leaving him well-placed to promote China’s economic vision as leaders gather to discuss issues including inflation, climate change, rising food prices and energy insecurity, building on discussions at separate summits in Phnom Penh and Bali in recent days.

Xi laid out that vision in a written statement released Thursday evening to a convention of top business leaders meeting alongside the APEC summit, in which he decried “Cold War mentality, hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism” — echoing Beijing’s typical criticisms of the US, without mentioning it by name.

“The Asia Pacific is no one’s backyard and should not become an area for big power contest. No attempt to wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times!” Xi said in the statement.

“Any attempt to disrupt or even dismantle the industrial supply chains … will only lead Asia Pacific economic cooperation to a dead end,” he said in a veiled reference to economic decoupling.

No peer?

Xi enters the APEC leaders’ summit, which officially begins Friday, having already hit his diplomatic stride in the G20 meeting in Bali earlier this week — where his aim was to cast China as an integral part of a global arena alongside Western powers after an absence from the world stage.

The G20 marked Xi’s first major international summit since he broke norms to claim a third term atop China’s Communist Party last month, and his first time meeting multiple Group of Seven (G7) leaders together and face-to-face since the start of the pandemic.

That meeting saw Xi holding seemingly constructive talks and grinning in photos with leaders who have recently raised alarms about China as a global threat. He was also captured in video footage chiding Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a smile.

While tensions with the West remain acute, the diplomacy has placed Xi on a strong footing entering this next summit, where the Chinese leader is expected to address business leaders and continue his string of bilateral talks, including with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“Xi’s outreach is successful so far. The world has accepted his third term by default, and he is able to demonstrate that he can command both domestic and foreign audiences,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center.

“For APEC, China was going to be the center of attention with or without Biden and Putin. But without them, Xi has no peer in the room … It will be his show.

“The implied message is also important in that it illustrates how the US and Russia are not as engaged as China.”

Harris in Asia

But the US has other ideas. While Biden flew back to the US Wednesday to be at his granddaughter’s wedding, Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the APEC forum before traveling to the Philippines.

A senior White House official told reporters that Harris would address a meeting of business leaders happening alongside the summit and express there was “no better partner” than the US in the region.

The US escalated its economic competition with China last month with the launch of unprecedented measures from Washington to limit the sale of advanced chips and chip-making equipment China — a move likely to have knock-on effects on APEC member economies.

Earlier this year, Washington launched its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework — the economic centerpiece for Biden’s plan for engaging with the region as it competes with China — which includes a number of APEC member economies, but not China or Russia. The US will host APEC next year.

Also at stake is how APEC leaders choose to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At the G20, with Biden and the wealthy G7 leaders in attendance, the summit concluded with a joint declaration strongly condemning the war in Ukraine. As at the G20, Russia will be represented by a lower-level official, with First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov speaking for Moscow in Bangkok, according to Russian state media.

While the economic fallout of the war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda, how or whether participating leaders choose to implicate Russia over those effects could impact any concluding agreements from the summit.

Economic stress

And while Xi may project power on the guest list, China’s own economic woes in recent months have loomed over the region and are likely to be another area of attention. Late last month, the IMF listed China’s “sharp and uncharacteristic” economic slowdown as a key headwind facing the Asia Pacific region, as its slashed it growth projections by nearly a percentage point.

In his written statement to business leaders on Thursday — a day before Harris is scheduled to address the same conference — Xi called for “openness” in the regional economy and accelerating scientific and technological advancement there.

“I hope that all of you, as business leaders, will … actively involve yourselves in economic cooperation and China’s reform, opening-up and modernization endeavors,” he said.

But observers will also be looking to the Chinese leader for clarity on Beijing’s economic agenda, in particular as its borders — and supply chains — remain heavily impacted by ongoing Covid-19 controls, despite a policy easing last month. A sweeping regulatory crackdown on its tech industry last year has also caused concerns.

“This is the big question mark on the minds of many of us,” former Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told CNN, referring to how long China will maintain its zero-Covid policy and tight border controls, which have dragged on Thailand’s crucial tourism industry.

“It’s important for (APEC) participants to talk to the Chinese President about this,” he said.

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