Xi Jinping brings multibillion-dollar charm to Peru, as Anthony Albanese calls for calm among leaders

Chinese President Xi Jinping has come to South America with a multibillion-dollar charm offensive aimed at currying favor with nations, as Donald Trump threatens to isolate the United States from the global community.

After landing in Peru for the two-day APEC summit, Mr. Xi opened a Chinese-controlled Pacific megaport north of the capital Lima.

Mr Xi, like outgoing US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is spending a week in Latin America meeting with Pacific nations in Peru and the world's largest economies in Brazil.

China is seeking to capitalize on Mr. Trump's threat to trigger global trade wars, particularly in countries that might previously have looked to the United States for economic support.

The prospect of an economic war between Australia's biggest trading partner, China, and its closest defense ally, the United States, has Mr Albanese calling for calm.

Addressing a private session of APEC leaders on Friday local time, he will say now is not the time to withdraw from the global community.

“We're all in this together, we're all involved. And so we all need to work together to address this current adversity in a way that contributes to our future prosperity.”

Even without Mr. Trump's presence at the South American summits, his imminent return to the White House continues to dominate discussions among leaders.

Albanese met Indonesia's new president, Prabowo Subianto, on Thursday, where the two leaders discussed their shared desire for greater trade and military cooperation.

Before journalists were kicked out of the room, Prabowo warned of the need to work together to get China to “de-escalate” and lower the temperature in the Pacific.

The prime minister's speech to APEC leaders will mark the start of two days of meetings that will focus on trade and the global effort to combat inflation. The leaders will also discuss the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Albanese will condemn Russia and the support it receives from North Korea. He will also reiterate his calls for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East.

He will argue that all of these elements combined have reaffirmed the need for world leaders to work closer together, not further apart.

“Cooperation is fundamental to meeting the challenges we face,” he will say.

“It is equally important to seize the opportunities available to us.”

Present Australia as a safe bet in an unpredictable world

Since arriving in Peru, Mr. Albanese has repeatedly stated that he supports “free and fair” trade and the need to maintain climate goals, both for the environment and for national employment.

“Hundreds of millions of people will benefit from the work we can do to modernize and strengthen trade rules,” he will tell APEC leaders.

The prime minister addressed business leaders at a lavish ceremony overlooking the South Pacific in Lima on Thursday evening.

He presented Australia as a safe and reliable partner, a country ready to benefit from the billions that could flow to other countries if Mr Trump follows through on his threat to sacrifice US energy subsidies and funding own.

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Mr Albanese touted Australia as being rich in the resources needed to supply the world with clean energy and battery technology.

The Chinese president will meet with outgoing US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the APEC meeting on Saturday. Mr Albanese appears optimistic about securing a meeting with Mr Xi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro in the coming days.

The prime minister's comments in South America provided a glimpse of how he will likely treat Mr Trump when he returns to the White House.

He tried not to appear disparaging toward the man he once described as “scaring me.”

Mr Albanese spoke of the need to wait and see what Mr Trump does in office and reiterated his willingness to work with the US president.

But he has not backed down from any of his trade or climate policies that conflict with Mr. Trump's rhetoric.

Having never met Mr Trump, the Coalition urged him to visit the new president in Florida during his stay in the Americas. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Albanese all but ruled out the possibility, insisting he would return to Parliament the day after the G20 conference ended.