APEC Leaders Informal Meeting will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on the 18th of this month. Against this background, the China (Shenzhen) Institute of Comprehensive Development and the Hong Kong Institute of Finance of Bank of China recently jointly held the APEC International Forum on "Gathering Asian Power and Promoting the Recovery of the Asia-Pacific Economic Core". Representatives from think tanks and business circles from China, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia , Malaysia , Japan, South Korea, the United Nations and other countries and international organizations focused on topics such as APEC's cooperation prospects, the impact of changes in the international situation on the global trade system, and how to better exert Asian power to promote the recovery of the Asia-Pacific economy.
In his opening speech, Guo Wanda, executive vice president of China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, said that multilateral institutions such as APEC should play a role in coordination and cohesion, so that countries can better establish connections and enhance resilience in responding to new challenges. He pointed out that since its establishment, APEC has played an irreplaceable role in promoting regional trade and investment liberalization and strengthening economic and technological cooperation among members. In the past three years, despite the influence of repeated epidemics and factors such as geopolitical , most economies in Asia have remained stable overall. This year's East Asia Summit, G20 Summit and APEC Summit will be held in Cambodia , Indonesia and Thailand. It can be seen that Asian countries are deeply involved in the process of globalization and contribute more to global economic governance and the promotion of the Asia-Pacific economic recovery. However, the impact of multiple rounds of epidemics, the huge pressure on employment and poverty relapse, and the spillover effect and risks brought about by the adjustment of the monetary policy of the United States and Europe, have also put many Asian economies in the face of major challenges. Against this background, Asian countries should further work together to promote the realization of open trade and investment, accelerate digital and green transformation, and promote the continuous improvement of WTO rules to create an open, fair and dynamic market environment for the development of in the Asia-Pacific region.
David Morris, vice chairman of the United Nations Asia-Pacific Sustainable Business Alliance, believes that APEC is a diversified economic cooperation platform and a successful example of effectively promoting regional development and worthy of persistence. In a complex environment, APEC has always firmly supported the multilateral trading system and played a key role in promoting members to reach the trade facilitation agreement and other aspects. At the same time, APEC's core concept emphasizes diversity, and its members include both developed economies and emerging market countries. The political system, policy concepts, and cultural customs are also different, fully reflecting the different interest demands in the region. Although the current globalization process has been hindered, the forces of trade protectionism and have risen again, and the open, inclusive and free trade rules have been destroyed, APEC will still adhere to the multilateral development direction in the future. China has proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Global Development initiative, which shows that China strongly supports multilateralism . In fact, like other countries, China faces huge challenges in maintaining free trade and opening up investment. However, as the world's second largest economy, China plays an important role in the international community and looks forward to China further strengthening its commitment to promoting globalization.
Liu Junhong, director of the Center for Globalization and Global Governance of China Institute of Modern International Relations, pointed out that the development trend of APEC should be viewed objectively in order to better respond to the current problems and challenges of APEC. He mentioned that the main reason for APEC's cooperation achievements is that the open, inclusive and mutually focused cooperation concept has played a role in promoting the enthusiasm of cooperation among all parties. At the same time, the region has strong complementarity of economy and resources, and superior market conditions such as scientific and technological research and development, market size, production and manufacturing, and financial capital have also played a key role. Under the new situation, world economy faces multiple challenges. The trade frictions provoked by the United States, the spread of global epidemics, and the sharp rise in geopolitical risks have all aggravated the uncertainty of the world economy and seriously interfered with the development of APEC regional economic cooperation. But we should see that the central position of Asia-Pacific in the world economy has not changed.The United States' re-competition for the global industrial chain supply chain, and the supply cutoff in key areas. The rupture of the chain cannot break the unity of the global market and cannot block the situation of win-win and mutual benefit in Asia-Pacific cooperation. APEC's adherence to the principle of openness and inclusive cooperation is conducive to the development of multilateral systems such as WTO. In the next stage, APEC should actively promote the research and development of green economy and digital technology , become a global model for green energy transformation and digital transformation, and lead the in-depth development of new technologies and new business forms in the world.
Kobsak Pootrakool, former minister of the Thai Prime Minister's Office and senior executive vice president of Thailand Pangu Bank, believes that the economic recovery of the Asia-Pacific region and social development are inseparable from the high-level connectivity between countries in the region. He pointed out that Asia will become the core region of global economic growth in the post-epidemic era, and ASEAN countries will also play an important role in it. However, the current ten ASEAN countries have a low level of connectivity in terms of financial and taxation systems, laws and regulations, infrastructure, etc. If this problem can be solved, Southeast Asia will release greater potential in the future. He also pointed out that the communication and exchanges between countries in the Indochina Peninsula were not sufficiently sufficient during the planning stage, resulting in the regional industrial chain not yet forming a close connection, especially in the fields of digital economy, , and energy transformation. In the future, Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor will be built into an ASEAN logistics hub and headquarters center, further strengthening the ties between Thailand and ASEAN and China, India, Japan, South Korea and other countries. At the same time, Thailand will join hands with other emerging APEC economies to jointly promote the coordinated docking of regional policies and regulations, promote the facilitation of international trade, accelerate the formulation of standards in the fields of digital economy and green development of , help the Indochina Peninsula and ASEAN form a super-large unified market, and play a greater role in the global economic recovery after the epidemic.
Indonesian Chinese Chamber of Commerce General Chairman and Indonesian Baijiashi Group Chairman Zhang Jinxiong emphasized that it is crucial to promote the recovery of the Asia-Pacific economy and revitalize entrepreneurial confidence. As an emerging economist country that attracts global attention, Indonesia not only pays attention to its own construction and development, but has also played an important and active role in maintaining regional security and stability and economic cooperation. In addition to its unique natural resources, Indonesia's geographical location advantages are also the basis for its important role in the Asia-Pacific region. Although Indonesia's economy has also experienced negative growth in the past two years due to the impact of the new crown epidemic and the international situation, Indonesia's economy has recovered rapidly through active regulation and effective economic plans. Faced with the complex and changeable international economic environment, the Federal Reserve has repeatedly raised interest rates by , and the global central banks have hiked passive interest rates. The currencies of various countries have depreciated to varying degrees, which is undoubtedly a arduous challenge for entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, it is crucial to revitalize entrepreneurial confidence and actively adapt and respond to challenges.
Chairman of the Malaysian Kingsley Strategy Institute Yang Yuanqing (Michael Yeoh) pointed out that in the face of the uncertainty and risks brought about by changes in the geopolitical environment, APEC countries should further strengthen cooperation between and within regions to reconstruct the trust of the global society. He believes that, first, adhere to multilateral cooperation to make the industrial chain and supply chain more diversified. With the takeover of RCEP, cooperation within the region will be further strengthened. The promotion of the "Belt and Road" has also benefited countries along the route and improved the connectivity level of infrastructure and investment in the region. Second, APEC countries should pay more attention to green transformation, make full use of the opportunities of green growth, and pay attention to the development of renewable industries. Third, APEC members should improve their digital governance capabilities, strengthen the construction of digital regulatory coordination, digital innovation, digital talents and digital payments, and make digitalization an engine for sustained economic growth. Fourth, APEC members should vigorously promote climate action cooperation, focus on ESG investment and other sustainable initiatives and initiatives, and make more commitments to ensure a sustainable future in the Asia-Pacific region.At the same time, he also suggested that the way of thinking should be changed. APEC members should pay attention to cultivating the younger generation and work together to build an exchange network for regional young leaders, entrepreneurs and scholars, so that APEC's vision for future development can be continued.
CEO of Singapore Asia Pacific Futures Private Investment Co., Ltd. Liu Chengzheng believes that as a neutral and open Southeast Asian country, Singapore should play an effective role in promoting regional economic recovery in the post-epidemic era. The current world economic situation faces three important backgrounds: First, during the epidemic, the central bank, represented by the Federal Reserve, conducted an over-issuance of currency, as well as the energy crisis and food crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which caused high inflation in many countries, including the United States and the European Union. Second, the direction of Sino-US relations will determine the direction of the world situation to a certain extent. Third, as developing countries gradually gain more and more voice on the international trade stage, traditional developed countries gradually lose some control, which in turn creates friction between emerging economies and traditional developed countries. Therefore, how to balance the interests of all parties under the APEC framework and continue to carry out normal trade activities will help maintain the stability and security of regional supply chains. In this regard, Singapore can give full play to its unique advantages and influence, advocate promoting and coordinating the industrial division of labor and overall economic development of member countries in the region, and formulate and implement economic policies within ASEAN. At the same time, guide the foreign trade activities of ASEAN member states to attract foreign investment to develop their own economies and support the construction of public infrastructure, narrow the economic gap between member states, and enhance the overall economic strength of ASEAN.
Senior researcher at the Hong Kong Financial Research Institute of Bank of China pointed out that Hong Kong should give full play to its own advantages and assume the functions of "super contact person" and "regional all-round hub" for the Asia-Pacific economy, and promote the win-win development of the Asia-Pacific economy. Against the backdrop of pressure on global inflation and economic growth, the pace of economic recovery in the Asia-Pacific has slowed down this year, and the overall depreciation of currencies in the region compared with the US dollar. The maintaining a high inflation rate hike has prompted countries to enter the interest rate hike cycle. But at the same time, the concept of sustainable development is gradually becoming mainstream in the Asia-Pacific region, and the development of green finance will gradually accelerate. As an important member of APEC, Hong Kong can still play an important role in the economic recovery and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region based on its long-term location and institutional advantages, business environment advantages, talent aggregation advantages, financial infrastructure and improvement advantages and financial market improvement advantages. Although Hong Kong faces challenges such as economic downturn in the short term, with the backing of mainland China and facing the vast market of the Asia-Pacific region, with the continuous introduction and implementation of customs clearance convenience measures and the new Chief Executive's policy report measures, Hong Kong's economy is expected to resume its track in the future, assume the functions of "super contact person" and "regional all-round hub" for the Asia-Pacific economy, and play a positive impact on the recovery of the Asia-Pacific economy.
Senior researcher at the Institute of Asia Research, Japan's OEM, emphasized that East Asian countries should actively promote third-party cooperation around the industrial chain and supply chain under the APEC framework. From the current perspective, the level of industrial chain and supply chain cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region is the highest and most developed in the world. Faced with challenges from the industrial chain and supply chain, all member states in the region need to jointly respond. From the perspective of industrial chain cooperation, RCEP tariff concessions and non-tariff measures play a key role in multinational companies reintegrating and laying out industrial chains and supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region. In this regard, as the leader in regional economic development, China and Japan should deepen third-party market cooperation under the RCEP framework. As we all know, China and Japan are the two giants in the automotive industry in the Asia-Pacific region, and the Japanese automotive industry has a history of decades in China and ASEAN. With the popularization of new energy vehicle , China's automobile industry has emerged, not only facing the domestic market in China, but also actively deploying in the region, especially in the ASEAN market. If China and Japan take the automobile industry as an important means to carry out in-depth cooperation, it will surely drive industrial cooperation in the entire Asia-Pacific region to a higher level.
, Vice President of the National Committee for Economic Cooperation of South Korea, Chul Chung, believes that APEC currently needs to clarify various types of bilateral trade agreements within, comprehensively integrate various trade rules, and improve the energy efficiency of multilateral trade rules. Since the global financial crisis in 2008, the proportion of international trade in goods in GDP has continued to decline, and has dropped to 51.6% in 2020. The proportion of trade in services and digital trade has not decreased but increased, cross-border data traffic has continued to grow, and the process of digital globalization has deepened. However, it should be noted that cross-border digital trade in various countries still faces problems such as rule division, opacity in rules, and incompatibility in digital systems. All countries should strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure. In addition to the construction of necessary hardware facilities, they also need to provide sufficient talent supply and institutional guarantees. At the same time, as multilateral trading systems such as World Trade Organization are in crisis and the efficiency of trade negotiation and dispute resolution mechanisms has declined, APEC should promote the reconstruction of the multilateral trading system and order. By formulating more inclusive trade policies, we will enhance mutual trust and work together to pragmatically respond to the challenges brought about by the uncertainty of the global economy of .
Cao Zhongxiong, director of the Institute of Digital Economy and Strategy of China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, proposed that APEC countries should strengthen international cooperation in the digital field, enhance the digital resilience construction of regional industrial chains and supply chains, and jointly promote the economic recovery and global economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. He pointed out that APEC has become the world's largest market and the center of the global supply chain. Under the epidemic, the Asia-Pacific region faces multiple challenges, and both the industrial chain and supply chain and regional cooperation models are facing reconstruction. In this process, new supply chain organization methods such as digital platforms have played an important role in hedging , which has also enhanced the resilience of supply chain development in the Asia-Pacific region. In the future, as a key force in emerging economies, China should deeply participate in the establishment of the international digital standard architecture, strengthen data connection and standard docking with the global digital economy system, empower the digital economy to go overseas, and enhance the radiation, output capabilities and influence of overseas enterprises. On the other hand, we should work with APEC member states to form a new digital consensus, promote cross-border flow of factors, cross-border cooperation of capital, and interconnection of digital infrastructure, accelerate the establishment of a coordination mechanism for digital security governance, enhance the digital inclusion of trade policies of various countries, further strengthen the resilience and flexibility of regional industrial chains and supply chains, and work together to promote the recovery of the Asia-Pacific economy and global economic growth.
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