BANGKOK (AP) — Leaders from around the Asia-Pacific called for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine and pledged to steer the region’s economies toward sustainable growth as they wrapped up summit meetings Saturday.

Host Thailand garnered a diplomatic coup in managing to bridge divisions among the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum by saying that most members had condemned the war. Russia is an APEC member, as is China, which generally has refrained from criticizing Moscow.

The declaration issued by APEC leaders acknowledged differing views on the war and said the forum, which is devoted largely to promoting trade and closer economic ties, was not a venue for resolving such conflicts.

But it noted that the conflict and other security issues “can have significant consequences for the global economy.”

The leaders’ statement said most members had strongly condemned the war in Ukraine, stressing that it is causing immense human suffering and worsening inflation, supply chain troubles, food insecurity and financial risks.

Like a statement issued by the Group of 20 leading economies in Bali, Indonesia, earlier this week, it echoed the wording of a March 2 United Nations General Assembly resolution that “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.”

The meetings Saturday wrapped up a flurry of events in Southeast Asian countries this week that gave leaders opportunities for face-to-face talks that have been rare in the past two years of pandemic precautions.

Much of the activity at such summits occurs on the sidelines and in the interludes before and after the formal meetings.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke briefly on Saturday before the final APEC meeting began. Harris reiterated President Joe Biden’s call, made in a meeting with Xi at the G-20, for both sides to keep lines of communication open.

Xi said he viewed his talks with Biden as a step toward a “next stage” in ties between the two largest economies, according to a Chinese government summary of the meeting.

Relations have deteriorated recently amid friction over trade and technology, Chinese claims on the separately governed island of Taiwan, human rights and other issues. But Harris told Xi the U.S. “does not seek confrontation or conflict with China.”

She received a “handover” in the form of a symbolic “chalom” bamboo basket from the APEC host, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. The U.S. will host next year’s APEC summit in San Francisco, with preliminary meetings to be held in other cities throughout the year.

Though summit meetings are often sidetracked by other more urgent concerns, APEC’s long-term mission is promoting closer economic ties, and Prayuth opened Saturday’s meeting by urging the leaders to push ahead with APEC’s agenda of free trade in the Pacific region.

“We have to give priority to turning this plan into action,” he said.

Security risks are not on the formal APEC agenda, but Prayuth said North Korea’s numerous recent missile launches were discussed and “everybody shares concern on that issue.”

On Friday, Harris and leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea met separately to air concerns about the North’s launch earlier in the day of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

Both at APEC in Thailand and at the G-20 meeting in Indonesia, officials appear to have chosen to agree to disagree about the war in Ukraine while voicing anguish over its deepening impact. In both Bangkok and Bali, countries that have refused to condemn the invasion refrained from blocking the release of statements harshly criticizing Moscow.

APEC members account for nearly four of every 10 people and almost half of world trade. Much of APEC’s work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas such as trade, forestry, health, food, security, small- and medium-size enterprises and women’s empowerment.

The leaders’ declaration released Saturday also called for promoting more use of clean energy and more secure, environmentally sustainable food systems, among an array of goals that also address illegal, unregulated and unauthorized fishing, illegal logging, marine waste, improvements to public health and better access to vaccinations.

Other APEC members include Brunei, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was to represent the Association of Southeast Asian Nations but did not attend after getting COVID-19.

The summit venue, at Bangkok’s main convention center near a vast parkland, was cordoned off with some streets closed to traffic. Riot police stood guard behind barricades at major intersections to keep protesters well away.

On Friday, police clashed in another area of Bangkok with demonstrators who took the opportunity of the APEC meeting to renew calls for democratic reforms in Thailand and accuse the government of promoting policies to APEC that favor big business over ordinary people. Several people were injured and a number of arrests made.

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Story: Krutika Pathi, Chisato Tanaka, and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul. Associated Press journalists Elaine Kurtenbach, Tian McLeod Ji, Grant Peck, Jerry Harmer and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.

BANGKOK (AP) — Threats to peace and stability burst onto the agenda at a summit of Pacific Rim leaders in Bangkok on Friday after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese territorial waters.

The missile test was a stark reminder of persisting risks of conflict in the region and beyond, on top of frictions between the big powers that threaten to unravel the global order.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand convened an emergency meeting on the missile launch.

“This conduct by North Korea most recently is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. It destabilizes security in the region, and unnecessarily raises tensions,” Harris said in remarks as the meeting started.

“We strongly condemn these actions and we again call for North Korea to stop further unlawful, destabilizing acts,” she said.

North Korea is under United Nations sanctions for past weapons tests but has not faced new sanctions this year because U.S. attempts were opposed by China and Russia in the Security Council.

A Thai government spokesperson said leaders also expressed concern about the missile launch in closed-door meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Friday

The 21-member APEC’s long-term mission is promoting closer economic ties but its summits often are sidetracked by other more urgent issues.

APEC leaders appeared likely to issue a joint declaration condemning the war in Ukraine after their foreign ministers agreed on a statement that “deplores in the strongest terms” the invasion by Moscow.

The statement followed a similar approach as that adopted at a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies earlier this week, where leaders endorsed a statement saying that “most” — not all — had agreed and that there were differing opinions. Russia’s foreign minister attended the G-20.

The strategy is a shift from the past, when rules requiring a consensus prevented such gatherings from issuing declarations on such divisive issues. None of the earlier APEC preparatory meetings this year issued statements due to disagreements over whether to mention the conflict in Ukraine.

Both at APEC in Thailand and at the G-20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, officials appear to have chosen to agree to disagree. In Bali, China and India, after months of refusing to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, did not block the release of a statement that harshly criticized Moscow.

“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy –- constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks,” said the statement issued Friday. “There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”

It noted that APEC ”is not the forum to resolve security issues,” but acknowledged “security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy.”

It’s a message that has been voiced by many during this week heavy in summitry.

“Geopolitical tensions are detracting from peace and stability and undermining the rules-based international order, which we all agree are essential,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the opening session of the two-day APEC leaders meeting, which ends Saturday.

At the meeting, leaders appealed for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine and considered strategies for nursing along economic recoveries from the coronavirus pandemic while contending with food and energy crises, the need to cut the carbon emissions that cause climate change and other urgent tasks.

At a business conference on the sidelines of APEC, French President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to confrontation, both in Ukraine and also in Asia, where he said friction between the biggest economies, the U.S. and China, was forcing countries to take sides.

“There is no stability or peace except one based on international order and respect,” said Macron, who was invited to the APEC summit as a guest by the host country, Thailand.

In her remarks to the business conference, Harris assured Asian leaders “the United States is here to stay” as she pitched Washington as a reliable economic partner committed to the region and its prosperity.

“And there is no better economic partner for this region than the United States of America,” Harris said.

APEC members account for nearly four of every 10 people and almost half of world trade. Much of APEC’s work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas such as trade, forestry, health, food, security, small and medium-size enterprises and women’s empowerment.

Other APEC members include Brunei, Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Apart from the French president, Thailand also invited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister of Saudi Arabia; and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was to represent ASEAN but is not attending after getting COVID-19.

The summit venue, at Bangkok’s main convention center, was cordoned off with some streets closed to traffic. Riot police stood guard behind barricades at a major intersection.

Police clashed in another area of Bangkok with protesters who took the opportunity of the APEC meeting to renew calls for democratic reforms in Thailand and accuse the government of promoting policies to APEC that favor big business over ordinary people.

Several hundred protesters gathered about 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the APEC meeting site, hoping to march to the venue and hand over a letter stating their concerns.

Police blocked them, sparking a violent confrontation with some protesters tossing debris and other items at police, who then charged the crowd, shooting rubber bullets. Several people were injured and a number of arrests were made in the standoff, which lasted several hours.

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Story: Krutika Pathi and Tassanee Vejpongsa. Associated Press journalists Grant Peck, Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, Tian McLeod Ji, David Rising, Chisato Tanaka, Jerry Harmer and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

BANGKOK (AP) — Pacific Rim leaders were striving to find common ground on the war in Ukraine and other dire threats to humankind in an annual meeting that began Friday at a heavily guarded venue in Thailand’s capital.

The annual summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is the last of three back-to-back meetings of world leaders in the region.

On Thursday, foreign and commerce ministers were completing their yearlong effort to form a consensus on an array of often-divisive issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he saw signs of a “convergence” in views about how to move forward in solving the world’s problems.

Whether that might enable Thailand as host of the meetings to produce a final joint statement remained to be seen: consensus generally is required among the 21 APEC members, including Russia. None of the earlier APEC preparatory meetings this year issued statements due to disagreements over whether to mention the conflict.

But leaders of the Group of 20 did manage a show of unity when China and India, after months of refusing to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, did not stand in the way of the release of a statement by the world’s leading economies that harshly criticized Moscow.

“At G-20, we really welcomed that we could have a joint statement,” said Yasuhiro Tsukamoto, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Asked about the prospects for a show of unity, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he did not want to “get ahead” of the talks.

But, “on issue after issue we’re seeing, as I said, a growing convergence among the major countries in the world,” he told reporters after Thursday’s meetings.

The APEC meetings and earlier summits of the Group of 20 major economies on the Indonesian island resort of Bali and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia have brought together leaders who have had little opportunity to meet face-to-face since the pandemic began in 2020.

“It is such a relief for us to be able to go back to the conduct of business in the way that we know is most efficient and most productive,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, told a business conference held ahead of the APEC summit meetings. But he noted, “Dark clouds loom large if we are not to be prepared.”

The war in Ukraine has pushed food and energy prices sharply higher, disrupting supply chains and hindering the world’s recovery from the pandemic.

“The global economy faces mounting downward pressure and growing risks of recession,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in written remarks distributed to the business conference.

The Chinese economy has slowed sharply under restrictions meant to quash COVID-19 outbreaks. Xi warned against a “new Cold War” and attempts to dismantle supply chains built over decades, and called for strengthened cooperation and progress in achieving APEC’s vision of an open Asia-Pacific economy.

The threat of a coronavirus resurgence remains, with China reporting 23,276 new COVID-19 cases across the country on Thursday despite its costly and stringent “zero-COVID” policy. The southern metropolis of Guangzhou plans to build quarantine facilities with almost 250,000 beds to cope with outbreaks.

Xi stayed close to home throughout the pandemic, making his first trip outside China since it began only in September. But he has had a busy roster of meetings both in Bali and Bangkok, where much of the activity is on the sidelines of the summits.

Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Thursday for what Kishida told reporters was a “candid and detailed discussion.”

“Because we are neighbors, there are various problems between Japan and China,” he said. But he added that “I think our talks today were a good start for us to pursue dialogue toward building constructive and stable Japan-China relations.”

Before the summit, Thai officials said they were hoping to steer APEC toward long-term solutions in various areas, including climate change, economic disruptions and faltering recoveries from the pandemic.

The APEC leaders meet formally in closed-door sessions on Friday and Saturday. For some, it will be at least the third such opportunity for face-to-face talks in the past two weeks. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is attending instead of President Joe Biden, who will be hosting his granddaughter’s wedding at the White House.

With both Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin absent, Xi is the star attendee in Bangkok.

Thailand hoped to have all members agree on a set of targets for meeting the challenges of climate change, promoting sustainable trade and investment and environmental goals,

The wording of any statement on Ukraine would be the “most challenging element of our negotiations,” said Cherdchai Chaivaivid, director-general of Thailand’s Department of International Economic Affairs.

“I am cautiously optimistic that we should be able to reach a good level of consensus. The thing is, are we going to reach consensus on every single issue in the draft or not? That remains to be answered by all senior officials working around the clock during the next few days,” Cherdchai said.

APEC members account for nearly four of every 10 people and almost half of world trade. Much of APEC’s work is technical and incremental, carried out by senior officials and ministers, covering areas such as trade, tourism, forestry, health, food, security, small and medium-size enterprises and women’s empowerment.

Members also include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

As host, Thailand invited three special guests to the meeting: French President Emmanuel Macron; Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister of Saudi Arabia; and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was to represent ASEAN but will not attend after getting COVID-19.

The APEC summit venue, at downtown Bangkok’s main convention center, was cordoned off with some streets in the area completely closed to traffic. Rows of riot police stood guard behind barricades at a major intersection nearby, underscoring Thailand’s determination to ensure no disruptions.

In recent years, Bangkok has seen a wave of large-scale protests aimed both at the government and the powerful monarchy, though they have faded under the pressures of the pandemic and targeted arrests of key figures.

A small but noisy group of protesters scuffled briefly with police Thursday demanding to deliver a letter to leaders attending the summit. The demonstrators back various causes including the removal of Prime Minister Prayuth and the abolition of Thailand’s strict anti-royal defamation laws.

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Story: Elaine Kurtenbach and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul. Associated Press journalists Grant Peck, Krutika Pathi, Jerry Harmer and Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report. Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.