U.S. President Donald Trump appeared as a surprise participant at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit,  being hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Mr. Trump, whose involvement was in doubt until several hours before the 1200 GMT start time, was seen on a screen with 19 other APEC heads of government while Mr. Muhyiddin delivered his opening statement.

The meeting, usually an annual gala attended by the leaders, this year is taking place by video link due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and is expected to last two hours.

Mr. Muhyiddin’s opening remarks were broadcast live on local television but coverage stopped once he had finished.

The host website appeared to crash at around the same time.

Among the other APEC leaders who took  part in the summit were Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Mr. Muhyiddin said that the pandemic “has had a lasting impact’’ on trade but added that APEC intends to “reaffirm its support for the rules-based multilateral trading system’’ which he described as essential for business.

The U.S. under Mr. Trump has sought to push back against unfair terms of trade.

The Malaysian leader’s opening remarks come a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping told the APEC CEO Dialogues that Beijing will “eschew decoupling and seek high-standard free trade agreements with more countries.’’

Today’s summit could be Mr. Trump’s final shot at pushing back at Xi, who on Thursday touted China’s major strategic achievement to both contain the virus and speedily bring production and life back to normal.’’

Though Mr. Trump praised Xi the last time the two leaders spoke, which was by telephone in March, he has since blamed Beijing for what he has repeatedly termed “the Chinese virus.’’

According to official data the novel Coronavirus has infected over 11.5 million Americans and led to more than 250,000 deaths the most of any country.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, who has close ties with both China and the US, told the CEO Dialogues on Thursday that the U.S. prefers to deal with issues bilaterally and that the Trump administration sees trade as a win-lose proposition.

(dpa/NAN)