Xi holds talks with Japanese, Canadian PMs in South Korea

South Korea played host but all eyes were on China’s Xi Jinping at an annual gathering of Pacific Rim leaders on Friday, where he met Japan’s new PM Sanae Takaichi, Canadian PM Mark Carney and Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul after securing a fragile trade truce with US President Donald Trump.

The agreement, struck just before Trump left South Korea, skipping the main two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, cooled spiralling tensions between the world’s two largest economies that jolted global commerce.

“Changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world,” Xi told leaders of the 21-member economic bloc on Friday in Gyeongju.

“The rougher the seas, the more we must pull together,” Xi added in a speech calling for the protection of global trading rules and deeper economic cooperation.