Photo: MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
Representatives from 21 states, including Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, convened in Lima, Peru, from November 14 to 16 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) Leader’s Meeting. All the Southeast Asian APEC members – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—sent heads of state or government except for the Philippines; President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., sent Acting Secretary of Trade and Industry Cristina Aldeguer-Roque while he oversaw recovery efforts following recent typhoons. Many of the representatives then traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the annual G20 Summit on November 18.
During the APEC meetings, Southeast Asian leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the grouping as a vehicle to tackle emerging economic challenges. Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto, who traveled to Peru after making the first overseas visits of his presidency to Beijing and Washington, emphasized APEC’s role in promoting economic resilience, innovation, and inclusion. President Luong Cuong of Vietnam, which will host APEC in 2027, emphasized the need for “robust and resilient supply chains.” He also warned fellow leaders of the dangers of higher tariffs, stating that “isolationists, protectionism and trade wars lead only to recession, conflict and poverty.” The United States is Vietnam’s top export market, creating serious concern in Hanoi about the potential impacts of even greater protectionism under president-elect Donald Trump’s second administration.
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim used his speaking time to signal a neutral posture on U.S.-China technology rivalry. Malaysia has attracted billions of dollars in recent investment from Western companies to set up new data centers amid booming demand for cloud and AI services. At the APEC CEO Summit, Anwar declared the importance of remaining “competitive and neutral” toward companies specializing in AI and said Malaysia “should be given the option to decide what [investment] is best for our country.” Anwar also claimed he was the only leader to raise the Gaza crisis during the summit, exclaiming, “How can we talk about the economy and free trade if the rights of a nation are denied?”
Biden and Xi also held their final bilateral meeting on the sidelines of APEC. Echoing their previous sit-down at last year’s summit in San Francisco, Biden vowed to “ensure that competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.” But with international attention already focused on the incoming Trump administration, the stakes seemed considerably lower this time around. Biden, Xi, and Prabowo then flew on to Rio to represent their countries at the G20. Anwar, Cuong, and Singapore’s prime minister Lawrence Wong also attended as guests of the host, Brazil. Despite low expectations, the G20 leaders managed to reach consensus on a joint statement which, among other things, addressed both the crisis in Gaza and the war in Ukraine (without mentioning Russia, which was represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov).
Lauren Mai is a Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Gregory B. Poling is a senior fellow and director for the Southeast Asia Program and the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at CSIS.
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