Apec summit marred by suspected North Korea missile test, protest

Asia-Pacific leaders gathered in Bangkok on Friday for a two-day summit to focus on global economic woes but North Korea marred the opening of the talks with a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the host, urged participants at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit to seek sustainable growth and development after economic and social challenges from Covid, climate change and geopolitical rivalries.

"We can no longer live like we did. We need to adjust our perspective, ways of life and ways of doing business," he said to an audience that included China's President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Established to promote economic integration, Apec groups 21 economies that account for 38% of the global population, and 62% of gross domestic product and 48% of trade.

Prayuth did not refer to North Korea's missile, which Japanese officials said landed just 200km off Japan and had sufficient range to reach the mainland of the US.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is in Bangkok for the Apec meeting, told reporters that North Korea had "repeated its provocations with unprecedented frequency".

The White House said in a statement Harris would coordinate with regional leaders at the Apec meeting on the missile test.

The Apec gathering is the third summit in the region in the past week. A Southeast Asian summit that included China, Japan and the US was held in Cambodia while the Group of 20 (G20) nations met on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The earlier meetings were dominated by the war in Ukraine as well as tensions over Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.

Campaigners are keen to see leaders address food insecurity, surging inflation, climate change and human rights.

A reminder of such grassroot demands came as Thai anti-government protesters clashed with police about 10km from the summit venue after trying to overturn a police car plastered with posters of Prayuth and Xi, witnesses said.

Police were seen advancing on the protesters with riot shields and beating them back with batons. Some activists accused the police of firing rubber bullets but that was denied by officials.

"We arrested some protesters because they hit the police car and other official assets and they also threw things towards the police," a senior police official told Reuters.

'Deliver hope'

Thailand's Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said on Thursday the Apec meeting was taking place at a "pivotal juncture" with the world facing multiple risks.

"That's why Apec this year must rise above these challenges and deliver hope to the world at large," he said in a statement.

Xi, warning against Cold War tensions in a region that is a focus for competition between Beijing and Washington, said on Thursday the Asia-Pacific was no one's backyard and should not become an arena of big power rivalry,

"No attempt to wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times," Xi said in written remarks prepared for a business event linked to the summit.

Relations between the world's two largest economies have been strained in recent years over issues like tariffs, Taiwan, intellectual property, the removal of Hong Kong's autonomy and disputes over the South China Sea, among others.

In a move that may be seen by Beijing as a provocation, a senior US official said Vice President Harris will visit the Philippine islands of Palawan on the edge of the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday.

The trip will make Harris the highest-ranking US official to visit the island chain adjacent to the Spratly Islands. China has dredged the sea floor to build harbours and airstrips on the Spratlys, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

At the G20 meeting, countries unanimously adopted a declaration saying most members condemned the Ukraine war, but that also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.

Russia is a member of both G20 and Apec but President Vladimir Putin has stayed away from the summits. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov will represent him at Apec.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is among those also attending the main meeting, while French President Emmanuel Macron is a special guest.

Xi held a rare summit with Kishida in Bangkok, the first leadership-level meeting between China and Japan in nearly three years, after which Kishida said he conveyed concerns about peace in the Taiwan Strait.

China's CCTV reported that Xi told Kishida the Taiwan issue involved the political foundation of ties between their two countries, and territorial disputes should be properly managed. The meeting came a day after tensions simmered in Bali, where Xi criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over alleged leaks of their closed-door meeting, a rare public display of annoyance by Xi. Trudeau is also in Bangkok.