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Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
—
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Bangkok Thursday for the last of three back-to-back international summits held over the past week in Asia – this time for a gathering where the leaders of the United States and Russia will both be absent.
That leaves Xi primed to enter the two-day Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in the Thai capital without needing to face US President Joe Biden at an economic summit focused on a region at the heart of the US-China contest.
The expected absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bangkok, as in Bali for the Group of 20 (G20) summit earlier this week, will also leave Xi unencumbered by the optics of meeting a counterpart he’s described as a bosom friend, who has become a pariah in the West following his invasion of Ukraine.
Instead, Xi will be a key figure among a list of…
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