The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation mechanism has been and remains a cornerstone of regional collaboration

As the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026 convenes with a focus on forging a shared future amid global uncertainties, the discussion on revitalizing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation mechanism to realize the vision of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future takes center stage. In a world plagued by trade protectionism, geopolitical frictions and fragmented global governance, APEC has been a beacon of open regionalism for over three decades. Its steadfast commitment to trade and investment liberalization and adaptive evolution amid the global shifts have underpinned regional economic vitality and offered a viable solution to today’s global development predicament. Open regionalism rooted in the Asia-Pacific’s diversity and inclusiveness is no longer just a regional cooperation model, but a powerful response to the anti-globalization trend sweeping the world.

First and foremost, APEC’s enduring relevance stems from its ability to adapt to global shifts and evolve with the development needs of regional economies. For more than three decades, it has anchored the Asia-Pacific’s progress in trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, delivering concrete results that have deepened regional economic integration. Early landmark initiatives such as the 1994 Bogor Goals and subsequent cooperation frameworks laid the groundwork for this drive, establishing trade and investment liberalization and economic and technical cooperation as the twin pillars of its development. This forward momentum endured with the adoption of the Putrajaya Vision 2040 in 2020, which set out the ambition of building an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community and injected fresh momentum into regional cooperation for a new era.

Second, APEC has laid a solid foundation for and empowered the development of regional economic and trade cooperation agreements and mechanisms across the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific economic landscape now abounds with new opportunities for advancing open regionalism, as institutional dividends from regional agreements are unlocked at an accelerated pace, fueling greater economic vitality across the region.

The full entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has reshaped the region’s economic cooperation landscape. As the world’s largest free trade agreement by population and economic scale, the RCEP has optimized the business environment, smoothed factor flows and boosted intra-regional trade and investment. The China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol has elevated bilateral cooperation from tariff cuts to rule co-construction while adding new chapters on the digital economy, green development and supply chain connectivity to solidify regional industry and supply chains and drive high-quality economic integration. These landmark outcomes have come into being alongside APEC, whose decades-long efforts to spearhead and nurture Asia-Pacific regional integration have fostered an enabling institutional environment for such regional accords, while the practical experience gained from APEC cooperation provides valuable references for addressing complex regional economic challenges.

Third, production and investment activities across the region have grown increasingly vibrant, with the global trade and production networks built around global value chains shifting steadily toward the Asia-Pacific. ASEAN and other regional emerging economies are deepening their integration into global value chains. The share of intermediate goods trade in regional commerce is on a steady rise, and trade in services is playing an ever more prominent role in boosting global trade flows. The Asia-Pacific has firmly established itself as a premier destination for global foreign direct investment, with cross-regional investment flows growing steadily amid improved connectivity and reduced trade costs.

Against this backdrop, APEC’s role in coordinating regional economic cooperation, aligning development strategies and addressing cooperation bottlenecks has grown increasingly critical. Yet, APEC’s pursuit of open regionalism is facing unprecedented challenges in the current global context. In practice, the rise of trade protectionism in some Western countries has eroded the traditional global industrial layout, and the shift from efficiency-oriented factor allocation to a security-centric model has fundamentally reshaped global value chains. Some countries seek to replace the Asia-Pacific concept with the “Indo-Pacific” strategy, weakening APEC’s role as an important economic pillar of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, and establish exclusive “minilateral” mechanisms, which not only hinder APEC’s development but also undermine the foundational underpinnings of open regionalism in the Asia-Pacific region.

Geopolitical flashpoints, both within and outside the region, have disrupted the global energy supply system and regional industrial cooperation frameworks, while the fragmentation of global governance rules has exacerbated the confusion caused by overlapping, inconsistent rules in a complex web of regional and bilateral free trade agreements. These challenges call on APEC to accelerate its transformation and upgrading, raise its operational efficiency, and strengthen coordination with other regional cooperation mechanisms and international organizations to jointly tackle shared risks and challenges.

In the face of these trials, it is crucial to reaffirm a fundamental truth: the Asia-Pacific is an anchor for cooperation and development, not a chessboard for major power competition. This belief has been the cornerstone of APEC’s development and the essence of open regionalism in the Asia-Pacific region.

China, as a firm defender of multilateralism and a leading force in regional cooperation, has long been committed to advancing APEC’s development. China’s trade with other RCEP members has steadfastly accounted for over 30 percent of its total foreign trade volume, and China’s greenfield investment in the RCEP region had reached $234.1 billion in 2023, 2.2 times the 2021 level. China’s participation in APEC’s investment and trade cooperation has not only accumulated valuable experience for its accession to the World Trade Organization and integration into the global industrial division, but also provided strong impetus for the region’s economic development through high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, which has enhanced physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

This year marks the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, and China’s commitment to advancing high-level opening-up is set to bring new opportunities for APEC and the development of open regionalism in the Asia-Pacific region. China will continue to share its development dividends with the Asia-Pacific economies and the rest of the world, deepen cooperation with APEC economies in the digital economy, green economy, supply chain resilience and other emerging fields, and promote the alignment of rules among the RCEP, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement.

As the Boao Forum for Asia 2026 gathers global wisdom, the revitalization of APEC is not just a regional issue, but a global one. Open regionalism, as practiced by APEC, has proved that regional cooperation can transcend differences in development stages and systems, and achieve win-win results through inclusiveness and pragmatism. In a world full of uncertainties, the Asia-Pacific economies must uphold the original aspiration of cooperation, firmly safeguard APEC’s role as the main channel for regional integration and cooperation, and work together to overcome geopolitical frictions and trade protectionism. Only by adhering to open regionalism, strengthening institutional connectivity and deepening practical cooperation can the Asia-Pacific region realize the vision of a community with a shared future, and inject certainty into the volatile world economy.

The author is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the former secretary-general of the Global Center for Mekong Studies (China Center).

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.