Every day, the correspondents’ club describes how the same news story is illustrated in two countries. Wednesday, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, seen from Mexico and Australia.
The annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) is organized in San Francisco, in the United States, from November 11 to 17, it welcomes the 21 members of Apec. This intergovernmental economic forum aims to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the region. We are going to Australia and Mexico, two countries present at this summit.
Australia wants to preserve its trade relations with China
On the sidelines of the APEC summit, American President Joe Biden is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday. And there is one country that will follow all of this very closely, that is Australia. Australia whose positioning between Beijing and Washington is not so obvious
On the one hand, Canberra has asserted itself in recent years, more than ever, as a strong ally of Washington in matters of security in the Indo-Pacific. Australia models its defense policy on that of the United States and also intends to fight against growing Chinese influence in the region. But on the other hand, Australia is also linked to Beijing for economic reasons. China is Australia’s largest trading partner. These trades represent 25% of Australian exports, notably iron and liquefied natural gas.
Anthony Albanese’s government is sticking to one phrase, which the Prime Minister has repeated during his trips to both the United States and China recently: “We must cooperate with China when we can” And “disagree when necessary”. China therefore remains a trading partner only, but a significant partner all the same. Australia wants to preserve its trade relations in the Pacific as much as possible, and this is what Anthony Albanese should talk about at the APEC summit.
Fentanyl trafficking at the heart of discussions with Mexico
On the Latin American side, three heads of state from member countries will attend the summit, the Peruvian president, the Chilean president and the Mexican president. Latin American countries are trying to attract more investment from the United States. But it will also be about trafficking in fentanyl between China, Mexico and the United States.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, usually not fond of this type of summit, decided this time to make the trip. He will have bilateral talks with his American, Canadian and Chinese counterparts. Border issues, that is to say migration and fentanyl trafficking, are the two big issues to which Joe Biden will draw the attention of the Mexican president. He will certainly ask him to adopt additional measures to curb the migrant caravans currently crossing Mexico and heading towards the border with the United States. López Obrador will want to bring the discussion to another area, that of the regularization of undocumented Mexican workers in the United States.
The issue of fentanyl trafficking will also be at the heart of the meeting between the Mexican and Chinese presidents. While Washington accuses Mexican cartels of being the main producers of the illegal fentanyl that crosses the border and kills thousands of Americans, Mexico and China blame each other. López Obrador sent a letter to Xi Jinping a few months ago to address the issue of trafficking in chemical precursors to Mexico, but the Chinese president denied the existence of the problem. For its part, facing the United States, Mexico continues to minimize the existence of clandestine fentanyl laboratories on its territory. Joe Biden will want to hold both countries accountable given the devastation caused by this drug.