ASEAN Summit and G20Summit ended, leaders of many countries rushed to Thailand again, where AAPEC (APEC) 29th Leaders' Informal Meeting will be held from November 18 to 19.
It should be pointed out that this will be the first offline leaders' meeting of APEC since 2019. In addition, this meeting is the "finale" of in three international summits. Therefore, as the economic cooperation mechanism with the highest level, widest field and greatest influence in Asia-Pacific region, APEC's recovery of offline meetings is a highlight in itself.
What's more, in the context of the continued international geopolitical conflict and the challenges facing the world economy, the reunion of members of the "Asia-Pacific Family" may allow the whole world to see a new dawn.
"Diplomatic nothing is a small matter" . Although the meeting has not officially opened yet, there are already two details of that are very intriguing.
Detail 1: The US president returns to China early, but the vice president "takes the responsibility".
On the 16th local time, the day the G20 summit ended, US President Biden took Air Force One back to China. In other words, in these three heavyweight summits held in Southeast Asia, Biden only missed the finale of APEC leaders' informal meeting.
As for the reason, White House claims that it is because Biden is going to attend his granddaughter's wedding , which will hold his wedding on the South Lawn of the White House on the 19th. It may be a matter of opinion whether it is the granddaughter's wedding or the first APEC offline meeting held in three years.
However, given that the full name of the current US government is "Biden-Harris Administration", the delegation to attend the meeting by U.S. Vice President Harris also said it was still acceptable, but it still makes people feel that Washington does not attach enough importance to APEC.
is very simple because will host the APEC meeting next year. As usual, the United States should hold an handover ceremony with Thailand, the "host" who hosts this session. It is best to participate in the two heads of state to reflect the unity between the members of the APEC.
For example, at the just-concluded G20 summit, Indonesian President Jokovic at the handover ceremony, handed over the gavel that symbolizes the identity of the rotating presidency to the Indian Prime Minister Modi , and New Delhi will also replace Bali to hold the next G20 summit.
But based on these alone, can we make the judgment that "the United States does not attach enough importance to economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region or APEC"? The answer is of course no. On the contrary, Washington still attaches importance to cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, and the Biden administration is even more ambitious.
As soon as possible, last time the United States hosted an APEC meeting was in 2011, and it was only 12 years since 2023. However, there are 19 members of the organization who are qualified to host the APEC conference. The rule is that these 19 members take turns to host the APEC conference. It can be seen that the United States is still very active in hosting the APEC conference.
Secondly, before this meeting, Harris first attended a business leader meeting. When she delivered a speech at the meeting, she emphasized that has "no better partner than the United States" in the Asia-Pacific region. It is not difficult to see that the reason why the United States is so high-profile is to win over other APEC members and consolidate its influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
3, , earlier this year, the Biden administration launched the long-planned " Indo-Pacific Economic Framework " . The first batch of 13 initial member states were almost all members of APEC (but not China and Russia). It has to be said that the Biden administration's geostrategy is "ambitious" .
At the same time, more and more people are worried that the reason why the United States wants to be the "leader" in Asia-Pacific regional cooperation is because Washington promotes to ideological economic and trade alliance , thus forcing other countries to "select side" to achieve its goal of continuing to maintain hegemony .
Therefore, although the Asia-Pacific needs to strengthen the strength of regional cooperation , we must also be wary of some members engaging in geopolitical game , so that the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation will fall into the vortex of "trade groupization and vicious competition" .
Detail 2, Russian President Putin , but it was not Lavrov that attended on his behalf.
Previously, at the East Asia Summit and the G20 Summit, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov , but the latter left Bali early at the end of the first day of the summit. The APEC meeting to be held in Bangkok is attended by Russia's first deputy prime minister Belousov on behalf of the Russian side.
Why is there only one deputy prime minister sent? Does Russia not attach enough importance to Asia-Pacific economic cooperation? The answer is still no.
On the one hand, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is still continuing , and the entire "state machine" of Russia is running tensely, and every senior management is under great pressure and has a arduous task. Therefore, when Russia attends these international summits, it often requires more complex overall considerations, and this is just an informal meeting of leaders.
More importantly, because the United States and the West impose a large number of sanctions on Russia, it inevitably affects Russia's economic exchanges and cooperation with other countries. In this context, the effect of participating in the "conference" may not be as effective as holding a "small meeting" in private .
On the other hand, Belousov once served as assistant to the president of Russia's president and the minister of economic development . He himself is a famous Russian economic expert. It is appropriate to represent the Russian side to attend economic cooperation meetings.
The only thing worth worrying about is that since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had a serious impact on the world economy, the impact of this matter will inevitably become an important agenda of the APEC meeting. If a country criticizes Russia for this and blames all the problems on Moscow , and even asks the Russian side to compensate and give , it will test Belousov's wisdom.
In short, I still hope that APEC can find a solution to overcome challenges as soon as possible through this meeting, and brings hope for economic recovery to the world, and countries can achieve victory and prosperity through cooperation .
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