APEC 2023 United States is the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in the United States taking place in 2023. It is being held in San Francisco. It marks the third time the United States hosts an APEC meeting, having previously hosted in 1993 in Blake Island and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

in Honolulu.

Preparations

In November 2023, San Francisco started clearing out all of the homeless people from certain parts of the city in preparation for the summit. On September 25, a high-ranking official from the city's Public Works department emailed to city officials listing seven intersections to target, writing that due to the upcoming summit, he was "concerned about historical encampments that are close to priority areas". The '' San Francisco Chronicle'' noted that "All seven intersections are in the two neighborhoods that have long been at the epicenter of San Francisco’s unrelenting crises of homelessness and public drug markets."

Events

Participants

Due to the

sanctions A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

imposed on him by the US government, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee was not invited to the summit. In response, the Chinese foreign ministry reiterated its calls for the US to lift sanctions on Lee, and "fulfil the due responsibility as APEC host, invite Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to the meeting". Eventually, the Hong Kong government announced Lee would not attend due to "scheduling issues", with Financial Secretary Paul Chan attending in his place. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador initially announced he would not attend the summit due to disagreements with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte. However, he later changed his decision, saying he would attend. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been issued an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

by the International Criminal Court following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will not attend the summit, with Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk attending in his place. This is the first APEC meeting for Malaysian Prime Minister

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim ( ms, انور بن ابراهيم, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, IPA: ; born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia since November 2022. He served as the 12 ...

, Thai Prime Minister

Srettha Thavisin Srettha Thavisin ( th, เศรษฐา ทวีสิน, , ; born 15 February 1962), nicknamed Nid ( th, นิด, links=no, , ), is a Thai businessman and politician currently serving as the prime minister of Thailand since 22 August 20 ...

, and Vietnamese President

Võ Văn Thưởng Võ Văn Thưởng (born 13 December 1970) is a Vietnamese politician. He is currently a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a standing member of the Secretariat of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietn ...

. While Thưởng is the head of state of Vietnam, the ''de facto'' leader of the country is General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who is not attending the summit. This is also Peruvian President Dina Boluarte's first APEC meeting as the country's president, having represented Peru in last year's meeting as the vice president. President Biden participates in a family photo with APEC economies and guest economies - 2023.jpg, APEC family photo in San Francisco

Invited guests

Sidelines

Biden–Xi summit

International coverage related to APEC 2023 focused on the summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on 15 November, held separately from the APEC summit at the Filoli estate in Woodside, California. Xi and Biden previously met virtually at the meeting hosted by New Zealand in 2021 – the first APEC summit of the Biden presidency – but Vice President Kamala Harris went in Biden's place to Thailand in 2022. (Xi hosted the

2014 APEC summit The APEC China 2014 was the 22nd annual gathering of APEC leaders. It was held in Yanqi Lake (), Huairou District, Beijing on 10–12, November 2014. Attendees Prior to a two plane tragedies of Malaysia Airlines flight between MH370 and MH17, thi ...

with U.S. President Barack Obama attending in Beijing. Obama and he had first met when Xi as Vice President, officially hosted by then-VP Biden, visited Washington in 2012.) A substantial portion of the issues facing the two leaders also involve APEC members and the deep histories of all nations in the APEC region. Anticipation in the U.S. for the 2023 meeting by the two leaders preceded the event in San Francisco.

Protests and incidents

Demonstrations spanning a variety of issues, particularly objection to Xi Jinping's presence in the United States, took place near

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

and meeting site prior to Xi Jinping's arrival. '' World Journal'' and ''

Sing Tao Daily The ''Sing Tao Daily'' () (also known as ''Sing Tao Jih Pao'') is Hong Kong's oldest and second-largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English language sister p ...

'' reported that hundreds were bused in from across the US to welcome Xi. Multiple clashes were reported between Chinese dissidents and pro-Chinese government groups. The nonprofit group

Human Rights in China Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various foreign governments and h ...

stated that evidence of assaults and selective police enforcement would be submitted to the

United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party The United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (often shortened to House Select Committee on China or Select Committee on the CCP) is a committee of the United States Ho ...

. Taiwanese reporters were harassed and stopped from filming near the

St. Regis Museum Tower The St. Regis Museum Tower, is a hotel and residential skyscraper that is located South of Market just outside the Financial District on the corner of Mission Street and Third Street in San Francisco. On the first three floors of the tower is t ...

. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China subsequently condemned the attacks on protesters and urged further law enforcement investigation.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2023 in economics Diplomatic conferences in the United States 21st-century diplomatic conferences (Asia-Pacific) 2023 in international relations 2023 conferences APEC summits November 2023 events in the United States