Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting, titled “Shouldering Responsibility and Working Together in Solidarity to Build an Asia-Pacific Community with a Shared Future.” From upholding international justice to bolstering trade integration through a unified vision, Xi’s four-point proposal carries high merit for a region that has been rightly hailed as the “powerhouse of global economic growth.”
If you are following the APEC Leader’s Summit, It’s very easy to understand that what’s going on and how it’s going on. I think it’s very important that, President Xi’s comprehensive focus on shared partnerships, inclusive prosperity, international justice and green growth makes for a well-rounded vision for future APEC progress. These calls should be seen as a blueprint to lift APEC, and its trade integration commitments, to newer heights.
First, Xi’s strong emphasis on backing “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” is a fundamental pursuit for the future of Asia-Pacific. Look no further than APEC’s own joint ministerial statement: There is a consensus desire to deliver a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory and transparent environment that facilitates trade and investment regionwide. Xi’s speech refocused attention on key “security” characteristics that are necessary to advance APEC’s trade aspirations. These include the need to take a more active part in global governance, and help bolstering the international order by making it more just and reasonable.
A fair and just global order remains consistent with APEC’s historic strengths, and the grouping can play a meaningful role. After all, it took a “peaceful and stable environment” to boost the region’s multidecade growth to this day. It is thus essential to advance the same spirit of future trade integration, especially when APEC economies generated a nominal GDP worth $59 trillion last year, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the global whole.
Xi’s principled backing for “openness and inclusiveness” is also in line with regional expectations on prosperity. After all, global energy and conflict dynamics reveal a much greater space to coordinate macroeconomic policies among Asia-Pacific economies, and further the implementation of massive multilateral pacts.
To that end, it is a welcome sign of support from China to jointly advance the “full and high-quality implementation” of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), alongside progress on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). Add to it APEC’s own headway towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), and we see enormous potential to promote genuinely “integrated development” in the region.
APEC is founded to promote economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region through liberalizing trade and facilitating investments. The forum has a special duty in today’s international environment. As President Xi said, openness brings progress while closing the door can only leave one behind. APEC economies have the duty to abide by the rules of international system and maintain open to trade and building an integrated economic community. Unilateralism, protectionism and the weaponization of trade would only become counter-wind to global development.
As China’s development has benefited from the Asia-Pacific and Asia-Pacific benefits from China’s contribution, President Xi hopes friends from the business community will give full rein to entrepreneurship, actively involve themselves in economic cooperation and China’s reform and opening-up and modernization endeavors, and contribute to boosting development and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific and the world.
I think, China will continue to follow the path of peaceful development, openness, inclusiveness and solidarity. China will unswervingly promote the building of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future and make greater contributions to the stability and prosperity of the region.
(The writer is Senior Journalist, currently working as Bureau Chief of CMG in Pakistan, she always focus on international events and global forums.)
