Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at China’s trade goals at this year’s APEC summit, potential U.S. military strikes on Venezuela, and allegations of Russia using a banned cruise missile against Ukraine.
Fighting for the Limelight
Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to fill the vacuum left on Friday by U.S. President Donald Trump, after the latter snubbed the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea. With Trump back in Washington to host the White House’s annual Halloween party, Xi hoped to portray Beijing as the leading global champion of free and open trade—taking on a role that has long been dominated by the United States.
The APEC summit came one day after Xi signed a framework trade agreement with Trump that temporarily lowers U.S. tariffs on most Chinese goods in exchange for a one-year suspension on some Chinese rare-earth export controls and a pledge to purchase more U.S. soybeans, among other promises. However, that deal revealed that “the United States is more dependent on Chinese goodwill than vice versa,” FP’s James Palmer wrote—a fact that Xi may use as leverage with his fellow APEC members.
Standing before the 21-member bloc’s leading figures on Friday, Xi called for political unity and greater economic cooperation. “Changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world,” Xi said. “The rougher the seas, the more we must pull together.”
To do this, the Chinese president’s Friday agenda included high-level talks with the leaders of three Asia-Pacific powerhouses in an effort to bolster bilateral trade with some of the very countries that Trump’s trade war has hit hardest.
First came talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Both Xi and Takaichi expressed desire to advance ties, but analysts warned that this may prove challenging for Beijing, as Tokyo’s newly elected premier has a more nationalistic and hawkish stance than her predecessor. One of Takaichi’s first acts since taking office last week was to order an accelerated military buildup to deter China’s territorial ambitions in East Asia.
After Takaichi, Xi met separately with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Experts suggest that improving bilateral relations may be easier with these two nations, as both are seeking aid from China to combat Trump’s trade war. Specifically, Carney has pledged to double Ottawa’s non-U.S. exports over the next decade to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on Washington. And Anutin has sought to expedite progress on a rail line connecting China to Thailand as well as efforts to jointly combat border security threats.
Xi is expected to continue courting APEC’s biggest members on Saturday, when he is set to discuss denuclearization efforts on the Korean Peninsula with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
“It’s obvious that we can’t always stand on the same side, as our national interests are at stake,” Lee said ahead of the meeting, “but we can join together for the ultimate goal of shared prosperity.” He added that he hopes he and Xi and can hold “candid and constructive discussions.”
Today’s Most Read
- The U.S. Government’s Repair Bills Are Coming Due by Luke Schleusener
- What Trump and Xi Did—and Didn’t—Agree To by Rishi Iyengar, Christina Lu, and Keith Johnson
- ‘Putin Doesn’t Want Peace’ by Rishi Iyengar
What We’re Following
Looming U.S. strikes? Trump denied reports on Friday that the U.S. military is planning to attack military installations in Venezuela that the White House has claimed are being used by drug trafficking organizations under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s command.
Trump said earlier this month that he was considering land strikes inside Venezuela as part of his administration’s efforts to combat the deadly fentanyl crisis as well as immigration. However, the vast majority of the fentanyl that comes into the United States is produced in Mexico with Chinese-supplied ingredients, not in Venezuela. Most cocaine is also produced in and smuggled through other Latin American countries.
Trump’s denial came after several news outlets reported that U.S. attacks on Venezuela could happen in the coming days. If that occurs, such an assault would mark a major escalation in Trump’s drug war after weeks of deadly U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean as well as a U.S. military buildup in the region.
It is unclear whether Maduro himself would be directly targeted. Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the Venezuelan president, and U.S. officials have repeatedly hinted at efforts to enact regime change in the South American nation. “Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” one source told the Miami Herald.
Moscow’s long-range capabilities. Russian forces have used a banned cruise missile in combat against Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters on Friday. The weapon in question is the 9M729, a ground-launched, secretly developed missile that can carry a nuclear or conventional warhead up to 2,500 kilometers (about 1,550 miles). Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov deferred all questions regarding Sybiha’s statement on Friday to the Russian Defense Ministry, adding that Moscow has previously “refuted all these claims very convincingly.”
Development of the 9M729 has a controversial history. In 2019, Trump withdrew the United States from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty over its creation, arguing that the missile was in breach of the treaty, as it could fly beyond the agreement’s 500-kilometer limit. According to a senior Ukrainian official, Moscow launched the 9M729 twice in 2022—and 23 times since Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August.
“Russia’s use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates Putin’s disrespect to the United States and President Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Sybiha said.
Fight over conscription. Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem on Thursday to protest a planned Knesset meeting to discuss ending a decades-old policy that allows ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to be exempt from military conscription. Under Israeli law, most citizens are required to serve at least two years, starting at age 18.
Last June, Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that there was no legal basis for ultra-Orthodox conscription exemptions. “These days, in the midst of a difficult war, the burden of that inequality is more acute than ever—and requires the advancement of a sustainable solution to this issue,” the court said in its ruling, referring to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The decision threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile ruling coalition, in which the premier’s right-wing Likud party is reliant on several far-right, ultra-Orthodox groups to remain in power.
To compensate, the Israeli government’s conscription proposal would offer low quotas for enlistment and minimal, delayed sanctions on those who fail to comply. Still, that has failed to satisfy Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, whose members maintain that their enlistment should not be forced. This, in turn, could require Netanyahu to hold early elections before they are scheduled to occur next November.
What in the World?
Protests in Tanzania continued for a third day on Friday. What prompted the demonstrations?
A. Daily electricity blackouts in the country’s largest city, Dar es Salaam
B. This week’s elections, which the opposition deemed undemocratic
C. An unpopular law that would reduce gas subsidies starting in 2026
D. Plans to accept deportees from the United States
Odds and Ends
Last weekend, a 77-year-old French cyclist lost control of his bike while on his way home from the supermarket, falling into a 130-foot ravine in the mountainous Cévennes region. It took three days for local road workers to finally hear his cries for help and rescue him. During that time, the man survived by drinking the bottles of red wine that he had just purchased. According to a local French outlet, the cyclist escaped with just minor injuries and mild hypothermia. Cheers to his rescue!
And the Answer Is…
B. This week’s elections, which the opposition deemed undemocratic
Demonstrators are angry with rising authoritarianism, which has culminated in President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s repression of opposition rivals, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reports in this week’s Africa Brief.
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The post Xi Takes the Spotlight at APEC Summit in Trump’s Absence appeared first on Foreign Policy.
