China’s key role in development of Asia Pacific rim

Ahead of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, set to be held in Gyeongju, South Korea, from October 31 to November 01, CGTN has published an article highlighting how China has continuously injected stability and fresh momentum to the development of the Asia-Pacific region over the years.

Just days after the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping is going to make his first overseas trip since the CPC plenum — to attend the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and to pay a state visit to South Korea from October 30 to November 01.

As the session reaffirmed China's long-term vision and steady commitment to sharing growth opportunities with the world, observers are watching closely to see how China's leadership will bring new energy to Asia-Pacific development and help guide the region through increasing geopolitical and economic challenges.

"There has never been a more critical time for APEC," said Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, in a recent interview. He expressed his anticipation of President Xi's participation, emphasizing that China has long been a strong supporter and contributor to APEC.

Openness and connectivity for win-win cooperation

On the Pacific coast of Peru, the Chancay Port — South America's first smart and green port — will soon celebrate its first anniversary of operation. Described as a "New Inca Trail," the project has created new trade routes between Latin America and Asia, serving as a clear example of openness and connectivity in the Asia-Pacific.

When President Xi attended the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima in 2024, he watched the port's opening via video link. He has called for fully utilizing APEC's role as an "incubator of global economic and trade rules," promoting regional integration and connectivity, and removing barriers to the free flow of trade, investment, technology, and services.

For decades, China has been a positive force for openness in the Asia-Pacific. In the first three quarters of 2025, China's trade with other APEC economies increased by 2 percent year-over-year, reaching 19.41 trillion yuan (US$2.73 trillion), or 57.8 percent of its total trade. The ongoing growth of goods ranging from textiles to electronics and auto parts reflects the region's strong shared opportunities.

China's actions reflect its consistent stance against protectionism and unilateralism. From the high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to proactive steps toward joining the CPTPP and Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), Beijing has been contributing Chinese strength to building an open Asia-Pacific economy.

Driving innovation to share development opportunities

At the 2023 APEC CEO Summit, President Xi urged regional economies to "seize the opportunities of the new technological revolution" and to work together to promote digital, intelligent, and green transformation. He emphasized the importance of strengthening scientific and technological cooperation and creating an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for innovation.

This vision is gaining ground across the region. At the 22nd China-ASEAN Expo, 62 projects involving new energy, artificial intelligence, and advanced materials were signed — many focused on joint R&D rather than just trade. In Chile, Chinese-made double-decker electric buses played a key role in transporting people during the 19th Pan American Games in Santiago, providing clean energy for a continental sporting event and demonstrating China's sustainable technologies on a global scale.

Herman Tiu Laurel, president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, a Manila-based think tank, observed that China's high-tech innovation and green transition open new frontiers for supply chains and create fresh opportunities for Asia-Pacific economies.

Fostering inclusive growth for shared prosperity

In late September, a China-supported Juncao and upland rice demonstration center was opened in Goroka, the capital of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands Province. The project, a new achievement in China-Papua New Guinea collaboration on poverty reduction, is helping local communities boost food security and build sustainable livelihoods. It provides a glimpse into how China's development approach is changing lives across the Asia-Pacific.

President Xi has reaffirmed that common development remains the main goal of Asia-Pacific cooperation. Following this vision, China has been actively taking action rather than just promoting the idea.

From advancing initiatives within APEC to increase household income and promote cluster-based growth among small and medium-sized enterprises, to inviting Asia-Pacific partners to join the Global Development Initiative (GDI), China has consistently strengthened collaboration in poverty reduction, food security, industrialization, and development financing with regional economies to maintain steady momentum in the region's pursuit of shared prosperity.

RCEP a wakeup call for the West

The Pan Asian trade pact between 15 countries including Japan, China, and South Korea, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP is a wakeup call for the West, writes Lionel Barber, former Editor of The Financial Times.

With the US conspicuous by its absence, RCEP is the latest sign of a shift in economic power eastward. China's stunning third-quarter rebound from COVID-19 contrasts starkly with the relatively feeble recovery in Europe, where governments are still struggling with a second wave of the pandemic.

China has become the European Union's most important trading partner, a remarkable achievement given Beijing only joined the World Trade Organization 19 years ago. "China is catching up even faster," says Herman Van Rompuy, former Belgium Prime Minister, President of the EU council, and leading member of the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

Van Rompuy, a devotee and publisher of haiku poetry knows Asia well. He observes that China's rise and Donald Trump's "America First" protectionism has created a new term in the EU's political lexicon: strategic autonomy. Europe is eager to escape being sandwiched between the two superpowers, but "strategic autonomy" is more easily said than achieved.

First, the EU must judge where best to carve out freedom of maneuver. Should it focus on nurturing specific industrial sectors to create "European champions?" Or is it better to set standards like the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which are later adopted by the US and the rest of the world?

The EU has a far more developed internal trading bloc, the single market, than the RCEP model. But the single market, in turn, requires a "level playing field" that limits individual countries' discretion to subsidize sectors. Strategies aimed at protecting sectors against U.S. or Asian competition can therefore fall foul of EU rules on competition and the application of state aid.

Between 2014 and 2019, the European Commission antitrust authorities, led by the formidable Margrethe Vestager, blocked six mergers in six different sectors: telecoms, financial services, cement, copper, steel and, most notably, railways. In the last case, the Danish commissioner scuppered a combination between Siemens and Alstom to create a European champion to combat the rapid emergence of China's state-backed train maker CRRC.

The Chinese colossus, itself a fusion of two big rail equipment groups, had revenues of US$30 billion in 2017 and 12% of the worldwide market in trains, services, and signaling. Siemens and Alstom together would have sales of US$15 billion and about 9% of the market. Verstager's decision provoked outrage in Berlin and Paris, where mercantilist instincts go back to the late 17th century.

Diesel multiple units for Sri Lanka manufactured by a CRRC subsidiary at the dockyard in Qingdao: the Chinese colossus had 12% of the worldwide market in trains, services and signaling in 2017.

The political tides have, however, shifted since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. Governments have been forced to provide billions of euros of financial aid to keep companies afloat. The state is suddenly in the front and center in the economy.

Second, the coronavirus pandemic has turbocharged the internet, highlighting Europe's digital gap with Asian countries. Most European governments have a long way to go to catch up with Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea in terms of data management for reliable tracking and tracing. The lag on the development and application of artificial intelligence compared to mainland China is even more serious.

Third, the brutal lobbying campaign by both China and the U.S. over the adoption of Huawei Technologies' fifth-generation, or 5G, superfast broadband technology was a sober reminder that Europeans had no technological alternatives. Huawei wiped out competition from the likes of Alcatel more than a decade ago.

Finally, there is the "British question." Having exited the EU (Brexit), the UK government has proclaimed the need for a new industrial policy. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is insisting on maximum flexibility, without being bound by EU rules. Last week, he unveiled a 10-point plan to wean the economy off carbon, with state support for the wind industry and new nuclear plants. "We will make the UK the Saudi Arabia of wind," Johnson promised.

Continental Europe fears that an unfettered UK could use state aid to become a formidable competitor -- which is why the EU is playing hardball in the final phase of the Brexit negotiations on a future trade deal. Member states also want to draw on the 1.8 trillion euro summer rescue package for their pandemic-ravaged economies, including provisions for common borrowing on the bond market. This will include tens of billions of support for "strategic" industries, notably in digital technology.

Europe is also signaling the willingness for a closer relationship with the incoming Biden administration. In a speech this month, Ursula von der Leyen, EU commission president, said the US and Europe enjoyed power and influence "indispensable" to global cooperation. A common agenda would cover climate change, trade and digital issues -- including the taxation of big data giants like Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Twenty years ago, European politicians employed similar heady rhetoric with the launch of "Agenda 2000" to make Europe "the most competitive, dynamic and knowledge-based economy in the world." Most of the goals were not achieved. The difference today is that China has become an economic force scarcely imaginable at the turn of the century. Europe cannot afford another lost decade.