A majority of leaders among the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and called for an immediate withdrawal.
"Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks," said a declaration on Saturday from the two-day 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Bangkok, chaired by Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
"There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions," it added in language that echoed a leaders' statement last week from the Group of 20 major economies in Bali, Indonesia. "Recognizing that APEC is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy."
Both organizations' language resembled a United Nations General Assembly resolution in March that “deplores in the strongest terms" Russia's aggression against Ukraine and "demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal."
The APEC declaration reaffirms leaders' commitment to promote sustainable and inclusive growth in accord with the APEC Putrajaya Vision that calls for "an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040."
The 21-nation organization also said it recognizes the importance of the multilateral trading system including the World Trade Organization's role "in facilitating global economic recovery, growth, prosperity, alleviation of poverty, the welfare of all people, sustainable development, and facilitating cooperation in relation to the protection and conservation of the environment."
— APEC 2022 Thailand (@APEC2022TH) November 18, 2022
'No one's backyard'
Recovering from the nearly three-year COVID-19 pandemic is a priority for the organization along with dealing with climate change, food shortages and inflation.
"In order to achieve post-COVID-19 economic recovery, it is our priority to drive growth-focused structural reform that is designed to be inclusive, sustainable, and innovation-friendly," APEC said. "This includes fostering an enabling environment for businesses of all types, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups, and collaborating to improve opportunities for them to be competitive, specialised, innovative, and expand into the international markets."
The region continues to see fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that's further exacerbated by global challenges such as the war in Ukraine, according to Prayut.
“But more importantly, there is the existential threat of climate change, which has consequences not only for the Asia-Pacific region, but also for humanity as a whole," he said. "Therefore, we must work together to mitigate its impact and protect our planet. We cannot continue doing business as usual. We need to shift our mindset and change the way we live and do business.”
APEC's members include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Next year's meeting is to be hosted by the U.S. in San Francisco.
China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris participated in APEC, where Harris told Xi the U.S. “does not seek confrontation or conflict with China.”
Xi said the Asia-Pacific "is no one's backyard and should not become an arena for big power contest. No attempt to wage a new Cold War will ever be allowed by the power or by our times."
At a meeting with Prayuth, Harris discussed the "worsening crisis" in Myanmar, cybersecurity and "the benefits our alliance provides for our people as we promote a free and open Indo-Pacific," the White House said.
