taken on September 21, 2020 US President Donald Trump speaks to the
media prior to departing from the South Lawn of the White House in
Washington, DC. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
US President Donald Trump will take part Friday in an
Asia-Pacific summit as he continues to reject his election loss, a
day after Xi Jinping used the forum to hail China’s growing
economic clout.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering, held
online this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, brings together
21 Pacific Rim countries, accounting for about 60 percent of global
GDP.
Beijing has become the main driving force behind the trade
grouping after the United States began withdrawing from
multilateral bodies during Trump’s presidency.
Xi, boosted by the signing last week of the world’s biggest
trade pact, gave a keynote address to the forum Thursday, hailing
China as a pivot point for global commerce and vowing to keep its
“super-sized” economy open.
Washington broke with its usual practice and did not send a
representative to deliver a public speech at the two days of
meetings, but a senior US official confirmed Trump would take part
in the official summit on Friday evening.
He will deliver a speech to fellow leaders but the event is
mostly closed to the media, according to officials in host country
Malaysia.
It will be only the second time that Trump, who is pursuing
legal challenges after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, has
participated in APEC, the other occasion being in 2017.
Oh Ei Sun, an analyst from the Singapore Institute of
International Affairs, said Trump would be aiming to “present
himself as ‘presidential’ on the global stage”.
“Trump would, of course, take this opportunity to present
himself as a sitting president for domestic political advantage,”
he told AFP.
The president would also “like to reiterate his administration’s
hallmark emphasis on protectionism and in the process forestall
China from claiming leadership in the global free-trade agenda”, he
added.
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– ‘Don’t repeat past mistakes’ – Trump has repeatedly claimed
without evidence that the voting and counts in the November 3
election were fraudulent, with his campaign launching various
lawsuits.
Trump has taken a hard line on China during his tenure, hitting
the world’s number-two economy with a barrage of tariffs and tech
restrictions, and a Biden administration is expected to see a more
nuanced extension of Washington’s current China policy.
This year’s APEC gathering comes a week after China and 14 other
Asia-Pacific countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RCEP), the world’s biggest free-trade pact.
The deal, which excludes the US, is viewed as a major coup for
China and further evidence that Beijing is setting the agenda for
global commerce as Washington retreats.
Signatories hope the pact will help their virus-hit economies on
the road to recovery, and many leaders at the APEC forum warned
against turning inwards in response to the pandemic.
“Trade has been the engine of growth and prosperity in APEC
since it was founded 30 years ago,” New Zealand Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern said.
“As we confront the region’s biggest economic challenge, we must
not repeat the mistakes of history by retreating into
protectionism.”
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that “making rules
for a free and fair global economy is critically important”, at a
time there was a risk of turning inward during the global economic
slump.
APEC gatherings have in recent years been overshadowed by trade
tensions between the US and China — leaders could not agree on a
joint declaration at their previous summit in 2018 — but there are
hopes for a more constructive American approach under Biden.