BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Citing violent protests across the country, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has announced his country will no longer host next month's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were due to meet at the summit to discuss and possibly sign phase one of a U.S.-China trade deal.
Piñera has called off the APEC summit, scheduled for November 16-17, as well as a COP25 climate summit set for December.
'This has been a very difficult decision, a decision that causes us a lot of pain, because we fully understand the importance of APEC and COP-25 for Chile and for the world,' Piñera said.
'But it is based on the wise principle of common sense,' he added. 'Our main concern is reestablishing public order, our citizens' security and social peace along with pushing through a social agenda to respond to the main demands of our citizens.'
Piñera attributed the decision to mass anti-government protests over inequality in Chile that have left at least 18 dead and resulted in 7,000 arrests
The latest development comes a day after a report from Reuters suggested the phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China might not have been ready by the summit.
However, a U.S. administration official noted the failure to sign a deal by the summit just means more time is needed.
'Our goal is to sign it in Chile. But sometimes texts aren't ready,' the official told Reuters. 'But good progress is being made and we expect to sign the agreement in Chile.'
(Photo: Gobierno de Chile)
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