BANGKOK (AP) — Asia-Pacific leaders called for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine and pledged to steer the region’s economy toward sustainable growth as they wrapped up their summit on Saturday.
Host country Thailand won a diplomatic coup among the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, saying most members condemned the war. Russia is a member of her APEC, as is China, but China has largely refrained from criticizing Moscow.
A declaration issued by APEC leaders acknowledged their differences on war and said the forum was primarily devoted to promoting trade and closer economic ties and was not a forum for resolving such disputes.
But war and other security issues “could have a significant impact on the global economy,” he said.
Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine, stressing that it has caused enormous human suffering, worsening inflation, supply chain problems, food insecurity, and financial risks.
The statement echoes the language of the March 2 UN General Assembly resolution, which “deplores in the strongest terms the attack on Ukraine by the Russian Federation and calls for its complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.” .
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha opened Saturday’s meeting and urged leaders to advance the APEC agenda to promote free trade in the Pacific.
“Priority must be to put this plan into action,” Prayut said.
Saturday’s meeting concludes this week’s series of summits in Southeast Asian nations. Much of the activity at these summits takes place on the sidelines and in the intervening moments before and after the conference begins.
America vice president and the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea met separately on Friday to express their concerns. north korea launch Earlier in the day an intercontinental ballistic missile landed near Hokkaido, Japan.
This week-long summit gave leaders an opportunity to meet face-to-face, rarely seen in the last two years because of the pandemic.
At both Thailand’s APEC and Indonesia’s G-20 meetings, officials seemingly chose to agree to disagree on the war. In both Bangkok and Bali, countries that refused to condemn the aggression refrained from issuing statements harshly criticizing Moscow.
Nearly four in ten APEC members account for almost half of world trade. Much of APEC’s work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas such as trade, forestry, health, food, security, SMEs and women’s empowerment.
Other APEC members include Brunei, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Some streets were closed to traffic at the summit venue in Bangkok’s main convention center near a large park. Riot police patrolled behind barricades at major intersections to keep protesters at bay.
But in another part of Bangkok, police said they were using the opportunity of the APEC meeting to renew Thailand’s call for democratic reforms, with the government promoting policies in APEC that favored large corporations over ordinary people. clashed with denouncing demonstrators.
Police blocked them, sparking a violent confrontation in which some protesters threw debris and other items at police, who charged into the crowd and fired rubber bullets. Several people were injured and numerous arrests were made in the hours-long standoff.
Associated Press journalists Grant Peck, Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, Tian McLeod Ji, David Rising, Chisato Tanaka, Jerry Harmer and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.
