APEC chief says Russia, U.S., China, Taiwan can work together

TOKYO — The head of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum said that leaders attending next month’s summit in Thailand can cooperate on various issues despite participants such as Russia, the U.S., China and Taiwan having seemingly insurmountable differences.

Although discussions will be swayed by divided attitudes toward the Ukraine war, “when we sit around the table, we don’t overwhelmingly spend our time discussing geopolitical tensions,” Rebecca Fatima Sta. Maria, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview. “We spend the majority of our time on things we can do together, as opposed to what’s dividing us.”