Shashwat Awasthi and Praveen Menon

WELLINGTON (Reuters] – Friday night’s meeting between President Joe Biden of the United States and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, is expected to be a reminder that there are increased geopolitical and regional tensions.

China set the tone for the 21 member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting this week, with Xi warning in a video recording on Thursday https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-xi-says-asia-pacific-must-not-return-cold-war-tensions-2021-11-10 that the region must not return to the tensions of the Cold War era.

This comment is a reference by the United States of America and its regional allies in an effort to reduce China’s increasing coercive military and economic influence.

The gathering will begin at midnight New Zealand Time. Biden is scheduled to speak, according to the White House. He also plans to discuss continuing efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and to support the global economic recovery.

According to the statement, “The President’s participation shows U.S. commitment towards the Indo-Pacific region”

The Chinese foreign minister has confirmed that Xi will be speaking at the meeting via videolink.

The APEC summit comes just ahead of a high-anticipated Virtual Summit between Biden and Xi, on Monday. These superpowers are trying to keep growing tensions among the two largest economies around the globe from spiralling towards conflict.

APEC, the final multilateral meeting of this year is coming after a flurry including the G20 summit in Rome and COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

APEC’s 2021 edition was entirely hosted online thanks to New Zealand’s tough pandemic controls measures. It has kept almost all visitors from New Zealand for the past 18 months.

New Zealand highlighted APEC support in fighting COVID-19 and decarbonizing economies, as well as for growing sustainably.

APEC members pledged to expand the sharing and production of COVID-19 vaccins at a special meeting convened by Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister in June. They also promised to lift barriers on trade for medicine.

Next year’s APEC conference will be in Thailand

Although the United States is offering to host the 2023 round APEC meetings, it has yet to reach a consensus, officials stated.

The meeting will also feature Canadian President Justin Trudeau and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.