As Trump skips Apec, Xi fills the void with message on trade

As Air Force One took off from South Korea’s Busan airport after US-China talks on Thursday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s Hongqi N701 limousine whisked him off to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit some 80km away.

- Laurie Chen

China's President Xi Jinping drives past an air base at Gimhae International Airport in Busan on Thursday.

(AFP)

The split-screen moment captured a shift in global economic leadership: US President Donald Trump heads home after a 24-hour visit, while China's leader settles in for a festival of multilateral diplomacy that America now sees as an afterthought.

This encapsulates a change in the contest for influence across the Asia-Pacific, home to the world’s fastest-growing economies and critical supply chains rattled by Mr Trump's tariffs.

As Washington embraces barriers and bilateral deal-making, Beijing positions itself as the predictable champion of free and open trade, a role the US has dominated for decades.

“We must practise true multilateralism, and enhance the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core,” Mr Xi told the leaders gathered for the opening of Apec, referring to the World Trade Organization.

Mr Xi called on the gathering of leaders, where US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stood in for Mr Trump, to “update international economic and trade rules to reflect the changing times, so as to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries”.