US boycotts APEC meeting in Macao in protest against China’s visa rules 

The US has not dispatched any high-ranking officials to the 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Macao due to concerns over China’s “discriminatory” visa policy. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the US State Department said its “high-level participants” would not be attending the meeting – held between 24 and 28 June – in response to China’s “arbitrary and targeted visa requirements,” which prevent US officials travelling to Macao from offering emergency consular support to US visitors. 

The department noted that the US had urged China to address the US’s visa requirement concerns a number of times, bringing the issue to Beijing’s attention after Macao was selected to host the APEC meeting on tourism. 

It pointed out that China shot down the US’ suggestions, even though Washington had put forward “a positive way forward” that was aligned with the “constructive relationship of strategic stability” proposed by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

No mention was made in the statement on whether or not the US would be sending junior officials to attend the Macao event. 

In 2020, China announced it would revoke visa exemptions for US diplomatic passport holders visiting Macao and Hong Kong in response to America’s imposition of financial sanctions and travel ban against over a dozen Chinese officials. 

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Washington maintains that requiring US diplomats to apply for a separate visa to travel to the SARs prevents them from providing emergency consular assistance to US nationals. 

As a result, the US State Department’s travel advisory currently lists Macao under “Level 3 – Reconsider Travel” – only one tier down from the top designation of “Do Not Travel” in its four-level warning system. 

Although senior US officials have skipped the current APEC event in Macao, US representatives did attend APEC senior officials’ meetings in mainland China earlier this year, including the first round (SOM1) in Guangzhou in February, and the second round (SOM2) and ministerial meetings in Shanghai and Suzhou in May. 

An APEC finance minister’s meeting is also scheduled in Hong Kong this October, with the high-level APEC meeting set to be held in Shenzhen in November. President Trump has indicated that he may attend, which would make him the first incumbent US leader to set foot in Shenzhen. 

The US’s boycott of the Macao tourism meeting comes only after last month’s Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, which helped to stabilise strained relations between the two superpowers. Both sides agreed to work together on a range of issues such as trade, technology and investment. 

Relations between China and the US have soured in recent years due to disagreements in areas such as trade, geopolitics and technology.