Beijing’s ‘Star Trek’ APEC Summit

It may look like a costume party, but as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation shindig draws to a close, nobody is having a good time. TOKYO—Imagine if you will, that this year’s APEC summit was set in the Star Trek Universe and China was the belligerent Klingon Empire; it’s not hard if you try. And things aren’t going so well for the United Federation of Planets. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, held this year in Beijing, should have been an unchecked testament to the rising power of China’s influence but instead it seems to be going badly. From the matching smocks that all the participants are wearing, widely ridiculed as Star Trek uniforms, to the air pollution in Beijing that’s out of control, not to mention Hong Kong, which is also out of control, this year’s APEC isn’t another Beijing Olympics where China is at the top of its propaganda game. In yet another sign that China is not maturing as a democracy, the Chinese government blocked access to U.S. websites showing the real measurements of pollution in the area—which are about six times the acceptable levels. The concentration of PM2.5, the smallest particulate matter, is at 153 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the safe daily level at 25 micrograms. This year APEC seemed to stand for: Asian People Exasperated with China. President Xi Jinping and his government, which never has had much of a sense of humor, seem to be providing more comedy material to the world than they are comfortable doing. The Star Trek meme has taken off on the World Wide Web. If the APEC talks were set in the science fiction world of Gene Rodenberry, China would clearly be the Klingon Empire and the other unloved attendee, Russia’s Vladmir Putin would be the war-like Romulan envoy. President Barack Obama, presumably, would be Mr. Spock, emotionally distant with a cold logic all his own. It could be a great costume party. However, one thing is clear at APEC this year: nobody is having a good time. The events have been punctuated by multiple awkward world leader meeting moments.