Opinion | US-China trade war should not overshadow Apec’s role in offering a safe space for testing out bold ideas

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has historically been a multilateral platform for members to identify common problems and float ideas on how to solve them, with bilateral rivalries taking a back seat

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Apec members participate in a dialogue with leaders from Pacific Island economies at the Apec summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on November 17, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 2:01pm, 19 Feb 2019Updated: 7:35pm, 19 Feb 2019

As Chinese and US negotiators try to hammer out a trade deal ahead of the March deadline, officials from both countries who are assigned to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will be flying to Santiago, Chile, to begin the first cluster of Apec meetings this year.

Until recently, bilateral matters have not concerned Apec, which is a multilateral forum that limits itself to matters of economic cooperation, is non-binding, has no dispute-settlement system and affords each of the 21 members equal standing through a consensus-based system. If, say, two members have a problem with each other, they take it outside, without bothering the forum with it, even if these two members happen to be the two biggest economies in the world.

But the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting held in November attracted some negative attention because, for the first time since Apec leaders started meeting 26 years ago, it did not release a joint declaration signalling unanimous agreement in every area of cooperation.

Many people interpreted this as a manifestation of the trade dispute between the US and China taking over, with tension from the bilateral meeting room spilling over into normally benign proceedings. News analysts wondered if Apec has outlived its usefulness or if it has ceased being an economic cooperation forum, having been thrown unwillingly into the arena of superpower rivalry.

US Vice President Mike Pence (centre) looks at Chinese President Xi Jinping before the official photograph during the Apec summit dinner in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on November 17, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE

Such speculation does not have merit. Apec continues its work on addressing the emerging and evolving issues surrounding the global trading system and its member economies.

Nevertheless, many of the good outcomes of the meetings last year have been overshadowed, such as the formation of a group to facilitate multilateral discussions on regulating the digital economy in the Asia-Pacific region. This is an initiative that is obviously timely, which shouldn’t be delayed and will require less open rivalry and more amicable relations between members to produce results.