Apec summit an opportune time for US, China to smoothen relations
IN ABOUT a fortnight from now, the eyes and ears of the world will be transfixed on San Francisco – the commercial, financial and cultural centre of Northern California that will host one of the most anticipated Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summits in recent years.
Leaders and representatives of the bloc’s 21 member-economies – including Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Mexico – will gather in the US city in mid-November for the annual summit, with President Joe Biden as the host. Collectively, the grouping accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the global population, nearly 50 per cent of global trade and more than 60 per cent of US goods exports.
The high-level summit takes place at an important time for Biden, who is seeking a second term in office next year. While he may be preoccupied with his re-election plans, the White House said last week that the president wants to use the Apec summit to highlight the “strength and resilience” of the US economy, America’s longstanding economic ties with the Asia-Pacific, the surge of job-creating investments from Apec economies into the United States in recent years, and US’ role in driving growth and innovation in the region and globally.
Summit agenda aside, it is what might take place on the sidelines that will grab all the headlines – specifically, the likelihood of a first face-to-face meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping since last year’s Group of 20 (G20) summit in Bali.
Barring a last-minute pull-out by either side, it looks all but certain that Biden and Xi will again meet in person at last. After Biden held talks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Washington last week (Oct 27), both the US and China agreed to maintain “high-level diplomacy” to try and smoothen relations that have grown increasingly fractured in the last few months.
As Wang himself said at a press conference alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, China and the US must have “in-depth and comprehensive” dialogues to increase mutual understanding, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment, and constantly seek to expand common ground and pursue cooperation. This, he added, will benefit both sides so that relations between the world’s two largest economies can stabilise and return to a path of healthy and sustainable development.
Realistically, this San Francisco meeting – if it does transpire – should aim to accomplish more than what was agreed on at the Bali meeting last year. Twelve months ago, the two leaders agreed to set a floor for the US-China relationship that had sunk to its lowest level in decades. What happened over the next year didn’t quite follow that script, with the most serious incident being a spying row in January 2023. This was when US officials downed a balloon that they claimed was a Chinese surveillance craft in US airspace. Blinken cancelled a visit to Beijing as the two geopolitical rivals hit the pause button on diplomatic engagement.
San Francisco offers the priceless opportunity of a much-needed reset. Wang’s trip to Washington – his first to the US capital in five years – did not deliver a major breakthrough, but the meeting of the two countries’ top diplomats suggests that there has been a slight thawing of relations between the superpowers.
After hitting rock bottom not too long ago, any improvement in ties between the two geopolitical rivals would be welcomed by the rest of the world. A fruitful meeting between Biden and Xi could be the catalyst to resume regular dialogue that is both in-depth and comprehensive.
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