High expectations for APEC

Korea must be defender of open and inclusive regional order

By Kim Won-soo

Expectations are high for the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) leaders meeting scheduled to be held in San Francisco about one week from now.

Over the past three decades, APEC has proved its resilience. It has withstood geopolitical tectonic shifts, economic and health crises, and numerous other challenges. Those tough times were not for naught as its member economies now represent more than 60 percent of the world’s economic output, nearly 50 percent of global trade and 40 percent of the global population.

Behind APEC’s institutional resilience lie three key factors.

First is openness. APEC is one of the few fora where top leaders of all three worlds participate, including the United States leading the First World (or the "Global West") and China leading the Second World (or the "Global East"). Russia will also take part in the meeting, but probably not at the presidential level due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Leaders of the Third World, from Southeast Asia and Latin America, will also be there.

The second factor is APEC’s functional approach, which has a depoliticizing effect. It is the only international institution where not only the People's Republic of China (PRC), but also Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong are represented. To get around the "One China" principle, APEC calls its members “economies,” not countries, and the summit “economic leaders meeting.” This so-called three China entry was facilitated by Korea when it hosted the 1991 APEC ministerial meeting. Korea’s engagement in this issue also helped pave the way for its diplomatic normalization with the PRC.

Third, APEC is relatively loose in making and implementing norms and rules. Its rules are largely non-binding, encouraging the broadest possible buy-in of its members. Their implementation is voluntary, but there is a lot of peer pressure to comply.

Thanks to these three traits, APEC has both widened and deepened in its scope. Its membership has grown from 12 to 21 and its meetings have been elevated from the ministerial to the summit level. Its agenda comprises not just economic issues, but also broader challenges such as climate change and emerging technologies.

As the global geopolitical rivalry intensifies between the First and Second Worlds, APEC holds two additional significances.

First, APEC can be the default option for top leaders’ engagement. It provides a venue where the leaders of the First-and Second-World nations can meet, which otherwise would be politically difficult to arrange.

Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in person at last year’s APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia. It was the first such meeting since Biden took office. It put the most important yet increasingly complex bilateral relationship back on track. It set the guardrails to help manage the relationship responsibly and peacefully. This year the two leaders are expected to meet again in San Francisco. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently visited the U.S., most likely to prepare for the summit. Prior to his visit, there were also two advance indications. Late last month, North Korea released Travis King, the American soldier who had been detained in North Korea following his defection across the Demilitarized Zone about two months earlier. The release was an unprecedented step by North Korea. Subsequently, the U.S. government expressed thanks to North Korea and China, which indicates China might have helped behind the scenes. In the wake of the Israel-Gaza conflict, Washington reportedly asked China for a hand in mitigating conflict escalation.

The Biden-Xi summit at the San Francisco APEC will be a welcome step forward for the whole world as well as for the two countries. It will set the right tone for managing the U.S.-China competition and for tackling global challenges mounting in all spheres of international relations.

Second, APEC’s deliberation on norm or standard building will have an impact on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and biotech. Soft norm building would make it easier to explore common ground among the three worlds. Ultimately, these endeavors could contribute to establishing global norms.

Korea must take active part in these efforts as it has big stakes in reinvigorating multilateralism, which has been put under intense stress test lately. For that, cultivating APEC would be critical. Korea has benefited considerably from an open and inclusive regional order that APEC represents.

Korea’s contribution to the upcoming APEC summit both in substance and in process will be a win-win for APEC and Korea, as demonstrated in the case of the 1991 APEC ministerial meeting. Korea's active participation in norm making and engagement with other APEC members will also be a good practice as it prepares to host the 2025 APEC summit.

Kim Won-soo (wsk4321@gmail.com) is the former under-secretary-general of the United Nations and high representative for disarmament. He is now the chair of the international advisory board of the Taejae Academy (Future Consensus Institute) and a chair professor at Kyung Hee University.