Chile announced on Wednesday that it is canceling an upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit as well as a major climate change conference as mass protests have raged for over a week. 

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera held a news conference and announced the cancellation of the APEC summit in November and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, adding it was a painful decision.

Pinera said that as president to all Chileans, he must always put the problems and interests of the people, their needs, their desires and their hopes, first. 

The APEC summit was scheduled to bring together 20 world leaders on November 16 and 17 in Santiago. 

President Moon Jae-in had been scheduled to attend the APEC summit and make an official visit to Mexico from November 13 to 19. The presidential office said it is aware of the summit's cancellation and that it is observing the situation. 

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping were expected to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit and sign an interim agreement on trade designed to dial down tensions between the two nations.

It has not been confirmed yet whether the APEC gathering or the climate change conference will be held somewhere else.