[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump plans to represent the United States at a virtual Asia-Pacific summit this week in which his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, also plans to participate, a US official told Reuters.
Trump’s participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum hosted virtually by Malaysia on Friday will be his first at the event since 2017, the only time he has participated.
“POTUS is doing APEC,” said a US official, who declined to be named, using the initials of the US president.
The White House declined to comment, and while the current plan is for Trump to participate in APEC, the Republican president is preoccupied with an uphill battle to contest his defeat in the November 3 presidential election. In the past, you have changed your mind about participating in these types of meetings.
The news comes after the outgoing Trump administration faced criticism for lower-level participation in last weekend’s virtual East Asia summit, on the sidelines of which 15 countries signed a major China-backed regional trade agreement.
China’s Xi is scheduled to be among the participants in the APEC leaders meeting on Friday and will also address a conference of CEOs starting Thursday.
Last year’s APEC summit, which Trump was supposed to attend, did not take place because Chile withdrew from the organization amid violent street protests.
Vice President Mike Pence represented the United States at APEC in 2018 amid intense tensions between the United States and China, which have since deteriorated to their worst in decades.
Trump failed in his reelection bid after a campaign that highlighted rivalry with China, though he has refused to admit defeat. Democratic rival Joe Biden will take office on January 20.
The summit is being held practically this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit the United States the hardest and for which Trump has blamed China.
