Apec closes in Peru with Chinese leader Xi front and centre

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP)

After two days of meetings in Lima that rarely ventured beyond platitudes in discussing the strategies of the region’s major economies, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum wrapped up on Saturday with a spirit of detente that many fear the annual summit may not see again for four years.

The 21 leaders from economies bordering the Pacific, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, descended on Peru this week at a time when America’s incoming president, Donald Trump, has vowed to withdraw the US from its leadership of a global free trade agenda.