Inflection point

This year's APEC meeting is an opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to recalibrate multilateralism to reconcile competitive dynamics with cooperative imperatives

A parade of Western leaders visited Beijing in January in collective pursuit of economic predictability amid escalating volatility. The scenario bodes well for China's forthcoming hosting of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in November.

Under the overarching theme "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together", China has articulated priorities centered on openness, innovation and cooperation. For the APEC meeting, these objectives are ambitious, particularly against the backdrop of mounting geoeconomic fragmentation and tariff-induced uncertainty.

Notwithstanding these headwinds, APEC remains a central institutional platform for advancing regional economic integration. Established in 1989 as a non-binding forum, APEC was conceived as a means to manage deepening economic interdependence across the Asia-Pacific. Collectively accounting for approximately 61 percent of the global GDP and 46 percent of global trade, APEC economies continue to represent a critical mass within the international trading system. Despite geopolitical contestation, APEC retains functional relevance as a stabilizing mechanism for rules-based economic cooperation.

As 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, the platform can be positioned to reaffirm its commitment to an open and predictable regional trade architecture. Strengthening supply chain resilience, enhancing connectivity and advancing cooperation in frontier technologies to ensure equitable sharing of technological benefits — particularly artificial intelligence and the digital economy — are integral to this agenda.

However, interoperability of digital standards remains the key structural challenge. The United States' intransigence in accepting the Chinese digital standard undermines global digital governance. This "digital schism" has been exacerbated by major-power competition. The technology decoupling and "de-risking" trumpeted by the collective West have accelerated the bifurcation of global digital standards.

Concurrently, against the backdrop of the "America First" policy, the US' demands for unprincipled compliance from its allies appear to prevail across much of the world. The protectionist deeds of the US, at the expense of the free trade system it once championed, have repeatedly been the proverbial elephant in the room — leaving the global order increasingly out of sync with the post-World War II order it helped construct. The recent spate of its indiscriminate tariff weaponization against allies and adversaries alike has provoked strong pushback, prompting reassessment among many of its middle-power allies — including those in the Asia-Pacific — regarding strategic alignment and economic diversification.

Canada offers a clear case in point. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Mark Carney bluntly declared the rupture of the existing world order and called on "the power of the less power" to begin with honesty — discarding the pretence and compliance that have long prevailed under the Pax-Americana. His pursuit of a more predictable economic order through diversification of trade partners has resonated across the collective West. The shift among Western middle powers to thaw trade relations with China signals a transition from blind compliance toward greater strategic autonomy, guided by respective national interest rather than ideological alignment.

It is a move of pragmatic economic diversification rather than ideological repositioning amid the intensifying unpredictability induced by the US administration's economic statecraft.

Meanwhile, the "Donroe Doctrine" — a portmanteau of "Donald Trump" and the "Monroe Doctrine" that asserts US dominance in the Western Hemisphere — looms large across the Americas. Under the "America First" pivot, this posture may further intensify the headwinds for the growing footprint of China's Belt and Road Initiative in the region.

In the same vein, economic outreach to APEC economies such as Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile by any power other than the US, either within the APEC framework or otherwise, is likely to be viewed as defiance of the US' hemispheric primacy in the region. In this context, demands for aligning with the US' restrictive trade agenda from both Mexico and Canada, who are also APEC economies, ahead of the review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement provide a glaring example.

Despite protectionist tariffs continuing to chip away at the foundations of free trade and multilateral cooperation at the US' behest, APEC's trajectory for the next 14 years ahead remains anchored in the Putrajaya Vision 2040, which envisages an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific for the prosperity of all people and future generations.

In practical terms, the creation of an Asia-Pacific community is neither a mere rhetorical slogan nor a geopolitical construct; it is a deliverable ideal built upon demonstrable progress. Average intra-APEC tariffs have declined from approximately 17 percent in 1989 to 4 percent in 2022, accompanied by substantial expansion in regional trade flows and cross-border investment. This has lent credence to the catchphrase of "prosper together" as underscored in the 2026 summit theme.

The forthcoming APEC meeting in Shenzhen this year is expected to include a review of the Aotearoa Plan of Action, the APEC blueprint endorsed in 2021 to implement the Putrajaya Vision 2040. For China, a seasoned host known for exemplary organization of major international events, the summit is more than another diplomatic milestone.

Unlike the declaratory rhetoric of the past, the APEC "China Year" will have more practical deliverables to work on. In essence, the summit is an acid test of the host's soft power, notably its capacity to reconcile competitive dynamics with cooperative imperatives in a challenging environment characterized by heightening strategic mistrust, regulatory divergence and economic fragmentation.

It also offers an opportunity for the host to solidify its role as a consistent flag-bearer of multilateralism. By offering public goods and promoting "symbiotic globalization", China offers a viable, innovative and inclusive alternative at this inflection point for the global economy.

The author is the president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.