APEC showdown: Xi at the centre, Biden on the sidelines
The contrast could not have been more striking at the sidelines of the APEC Peru 2024 summit. While China’s President Xi Jinping showcased ambitious infrastructure investments and reinforced multilateral engagement, outgoing US President Joe Biden focused on modest aid packages and rhetorical calls for stability, signalling the diverging priorities of the two superpowers. And where Xi seized the opportunity to expand China’s influence by holding high-level meetings in Peru and Brazil, Biden avoided reporters, skipped key photo opportunities, and appeared eager to return to Air Force One as soon as the summit concluded.
A Financial Times opinion piece succinctly illustrated that contrast, pointing out how two group photographs – one taken at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum and the other at the G20 summit – told the tale of Biden’s apparent defeat in the “battle for Latin America” against China.
“In both images, President Xi Jinping stands front and centre, flanked by his Latin American host. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, lingers near the end of the back row in one picture and is absent from the other,” the FT piece read.
Xi Jinping entered the APEC summit with an agenda that underscored China’s long-term aspirations for global influence.
The focus of Xi Jinping's remarks at the summit were three key proposals aimed at shaping the future of the Asia-Pacific region.
"First, Asia-Pacific countries need to build an open and interconnected paradigm for Asia-Pacific cooperation," stated a handout issued by China’s foreign ministry. It elaborated on Xi’s vision to explore trade agreements in digital and green sectors and to steadily expand a globally oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. “Today, we will adopt a new document to guide this process... that will give new impetus to our efforts toward an open Asia-Pacific economy,” Xi was quoted as saying.
His second proposal emphasised leveraging green innovation as a driving force for the region. “Asia-Pacific countries need to seize the opportunities presented by the new wave of scientific and technological revolutions and industrial transformations, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in AI, quantum information, life sciences, health, and other frontier fields,” the handout explained. Alluding to the trade war the US and its allies have tried to ensnare Beijing in, Xi stressed the importance of fostering an open, fair, and non-discriminatory ecosystem for innovation.
The third proposal called for a universally beneficial and inclusive vision for development. “Asia-Pacific countries should enhance economic and technical cooperation, increase support for developing economies and disadvantaged groups, and work together to grow the pie and distribute it equitably, ensuring that more economies and people benefit from development,” the handout read.
In his remarks, Xi unveiled initiatives such as the Global Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation Initiative and others aimed at increasing Asia-Pacific residents’ incomes and promoting the industrial cluster development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The approach is consistent both with China’s well-established Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework and its efforts to make inroads in traditionally overlooked global markets. Over the past two decades, Beijing’s trade with Latin America, a key region in the APEC bloc, has soared from $12 billion in 2000 to $450 billion in 2023. Xi’s visit to Peru and the inauguration of the $3.5 billion Chancay megaport exemplify China’s strategy of combining high-stakes infrastructure projects with diplomatic overtures to secure influence.
Xi’s rhetoric at APEC also sought to reinforce China’s position as the foremost partner of choice for the Global South. His emphasis on equitable economic development and support for disadvantaged economies contrasts with Western models that many perceive as overly prescriptive.
In contrast, Biden’s participation in the summit was marked by a cautious pragmatism. Seemingly hamstrung by Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House, his meetings with Xi on the sidelines focused on avoiding conflict, stabilising the US-China relationship, and addressing specific bilateral concerns such as synthetic drug flows and nuclear AI safeguards. Biden’s rhetoric often pointed to competition, not conflict, emphasising the importance of maintaining ‘mutual respect’. His offerings to APEC countries, particularly in Latin America, paled in comparison to China’s grand investments. While Xi inaugurated a transformative megaport for Peru, Biden announced nine Black Hawk helicopters for a $65 million anti-drug programme.
“It was such a striking contrast,” the FT quoted Michael Shifter, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, as saying “You have this huge Chinese mega-port project that evoked Peru’s history going back to the Incas and seeking greatness. And then what Biden delivered was some more helicopters for coca eradication. That seems completely outdated and stale.”
A similar dynamic played out in Brazil, where Biden’s $50 million Amazon conservation fund was overshadowed by Xi’s state visit and pledges of multibillion-dollar investments. Xi and his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva inked nearly 40 agreements on trade, technology and environmental protection, as the pair held talks in Brazil’s capital. “This is another historic moment in the development of China-Brazil relations,” said Xi, adding that China was ready to make the two titular BRICS nations ‘golden partners’.
Diverging visions
Xi and Biden contrasting approaches highlight deeper ideological and strategic differences between the two superpowers. China’s economic engagement, particularly in the Global South, revolves around strategic investments in critical sectors such as mining, infrastructure, and digital technology. Quoting Margaret Myers of the Inter-American Dialogue, the FT article noted that 60% of China’s investments in Latin America, for instance, are in high-tech sectors. This strategy ensures both immediate economic benefits for host countries and long-term leverage for Beijing.
In contrast, US initiatives have often been conditional and centred on governance reforms, environmental conservation, and military aid, reflecting a more traditional and what some observers now see as an outdated model of engagement. Alex Contreras, who was Peru’s finance minister while the Chancay megaport was being built, was quoted in the FT piece as saying: “If you have to choose between no investment and Chinese investment, you will always prefer investment.”
Washington’s smaller-scale commitments also reflect broader constraints in its foreign policy. While Biden’s Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity was touted as a counterweight to China, analysts argue it lacks the concrete resources to make a meaningful impact. This asymmetry raises questions about US ability to maintain its influence in a rapidly shifting global order.
With the return of Donald Trump in 2025, there is little expectation that US trade and investment in Latin America or elsewhere in the Global South will increase. Trump’s previous term was marked by isolationist policies that largely ignored Latin America, and a similar approach could drive these countries further into China’s orbit.
The implications of these contrasting approaches extend to the entire APEC region. Xi’s vision of an interconnected Asia-Pacific, driven by green innovation and digital transformation, aligns with China’s broader ambitions of rewriting global trade rules. Hosting APEC in 2026 provides Beijing with an additional platform to consolidate this vision. Moreover, Xi’s framing of China as a champion of multilateralism contrasts sharply with the increasingly inward-focused rhetoric of US politics.
Xi and Biden’s final encounter
In his encounter with Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, Xi emphasised the importance of the US and China maintaining ‘mutual respect’. Without mentioning Trump by name, he gave a nod to the incoming US president’s victory in the November 5 election.
“The United States has recently concluded its elections. China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship remains unchanged,” Xi said. “If we take each other as rival or adversary, pursue vicious competition and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back,” he warned.
“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We have never kidded one another. We’ve been level with one another. And I think that’s vital,” Biden said, reading from prepared remarks.
“These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.”
In a readout released by the White House, Biden reportedly pushed for greater law enforcement cooperation to stem the flow of synthetic drugs to the US, and the two leaders spoke about the challenges posed by AI, particularly with regards to nuclear weapons. “The two leaders affirmed the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons,” the readout stated.
Biden also confirmed that the US ‘one China policy’ remained unchanged:
“He reiterated that the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, that we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, and that the world has an interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the White House readout said.