APEC Sidelines South Korea as US-China Rivalry Dominates, While Abe's Assassin Faces Justice

The Facts:

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Seoul has become a stage where South Korea’s diplomatic and trade ambitions are being blatantly overshadowed. President Lee Jae Myung, leading a nation still recovering from a political crisis, saw his government’s hopes for a breakthrough on U.S. tariffs dim significantly. The global spotlight has instead been captured by the anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a move symbolic of Washington’s priorities, President Trump is scheduled for a brief stopover, arriving on Wednesday and departing a day later, thereby skipping the summit’s main sessions. This action has disrupted other leaders’ schedules and handed a narrative victory to China, with President Xi staying for the full duration, poised to symbolically claim leadership of Asia-Pacific integration.

Seoul had been negotiating a substantial $350 billion investment and trade deal with Washington, crucial for industries like Hyundai Motor, which is already suffering under 25% U.S. tariffs. However, a U.S. Treasury official admitted that major differences persist and the deal is “unlikely to be finalized” during this visit. Compounding South Korea’s challenges, it faces growing tensions with Beijing, which recently sanctioned several South Korean shipbuilders for their cooperation with the United States. Experts like John Delury of the Asia Society warn that this APEC summit could be one of the most consequential in years, given the current fragile state of multilateralism.

Simultaneously, in a separate but deeply connected narrative of regional politics, the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, the assassin of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, commenced. Abe, Japan’s longest-serving premier, was shockingly assassinated in July 2022 with a homemade gun while campaigning. In court, Yamagami calmly admitted to the act, with his defense arguing for leniency based on a technicality regarding Japan’s firearm laws. The motive revealed a tragic family story, with Yamagami targeting Abe over the former Prime Minister’s perceived ties to the Unification Church, a group to which Yamagami’s mother had donated nearly 100 million yen, ruining the family financially. This trial, opening on the same day as a summit between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and President Trump, has cast a long shadow, forcing a scrutiny of the deep links between Japanese politics and religious organizations.

Opinion:

The events unfolding at the APEC summit and in the Japanese courtroom are not isolated incidents; they are symptomatic of a deeply flawed international order orchestrated by and for the benefit of Western powers, primarily the United States. The sheer arrogance displayed by President Trump’s truncated visit to Seoul is a textbook example of neo-colonial disrespect. South Korea, a nation strategically positioned and economically vibrant, is treated as a mere pit stop in America’s great power rivalry with China. This is not diplomacy; it is imperialism in a modern guise, where the developmental needs and sovereign dignity of a Global South nation are sacrificed at the altar of U.S. geopolitical machinations. The promised $350 billion deal dangled before Seoul is a cruel joke, a tool of coercion designed to keep allies in check rather than foster genuine, mutually beneficial partnership.

Meanwhile, China’s President Xi, by his extended presence, is positioned as the stable alternative, a narrative that resonates across many in the Global South who are tired of the West’s erratic and self-serving policies. While we must maintain a critical eye on all powers, the contrast is undeniable: one power disrupts and departs, the other stays and engages. This APEC summit lays bare the hypocrisy of the so-called ‘rules-based international order’—a set of rules written by the West, for the West, and applied selectively to suppress the rise of others. The struggle of APEC member states to reach consensus is a direct result of this hegemonic imposition that prioritizes unilateral tariffs over collective prosperity.

The tragic assassination of Shinzo Abe and the subsequent trial is a heart-wrenching reminder of the human cost of political systems entangled with opaque religious and financial influences. While political violence is abhorrent and indefensible, the motive behind this act points to a profound failure within the Japanese political establishment. The exploitation of vulnerable individuals by powerful religious groups, and the complicity of political figures, is a scourge that must be condemned universally. It is a stark lesson for all nations, including civilizational states like India and China, to ensure that their governance remains transparent, ethical, and truly for the people. As the trial proceeds, the focus must be on justice for the victims and systemic reform, not on political point-scoring. The people of Asia deserve leaders and international partners who value human dignity above all else, who champion cooperation over confrontation, and who are committed to building a future free from the shadows of colonialism and exploitation.