APEC noted the “massive human suffering” and economic impact of war despite Russia and China being members of the bloc.
Asia-Pacific leaders have called for an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying “many” of them strongly condemn the war and the economic crisis it has caused.
The statement of the conference given on Saturday at the end of the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bangkok, Thailand, emphasized the “great suffering of people” due to the war and the “major consequences for the world economy”, including the rise in inflation. , food and energy shortages and disruption of supply chains.
“Bangkok Goals on BCG” taken from AELM #APEC2022THAILAND
Read it here: https://t.co/F4yADxCyZb
See also “Information for 2022 APEC Leaders” here: https://t.co/lASzQqv2iC
– APEC 2022 Thailand (@APEC2022TH) November 19, 2022
Russia and China are part of APEC, which has 21 members. Beijing has generally avoided criticizing Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.
APEC’s statement was similar to the announcement made by the G20 (Group of Twenty) summit last week in Bali, Indonesia which also condemned the war.
It added that although APEC was “not a place to solve security problems, we agree that security issues can have a major impact on the global economy”.
“There were other opinions and different assessments of what was going on and the penalties,” it said.
Amid tensions between Russia and the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the G20 or APEC meetings. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov went to Bali with Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov in Bangkok.
On the side of the event, the Vice President of the US Kamala Harris had a brief conversation with the President of China Xi Jinping, and the latter said that he saw the meeting in Bali with the US President Joe Biden as a step to enter the “next stage” in the relationship between them. countries.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have been strained, with disagreements over trade, human rights and China’s claims over the self-governing island of Taiwan.
Host and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha urged the bloc’s leaders to advance APEC’s goals of promoting free trade in the Pacific region.
“We have to prioritize changing the system to make it work,” Prayuth said.
The meetings last week gave leaders a face-to-face opportunity that has been lacking in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both at the G20 and APEC, officials seem to have decided to accept disagreements over the war. In Bangkok and Bali, countries that refused to condemn the attack refused to block the release of statements criticizing Moscow.
APEC is made up of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
The US plans to host next year’s conference in San Francisco.
