APEC finance ministers can strive for win-win outcomes

Some governments talk endlessly about economic security, even as their policies threaten the openness on which prosperity depends.

The Asia-Pacific has more reason than most to resist this temptation. Its extraordinary economic ascent was built not on isolation but on integration. The region's economies account for more than 60 percent of global output. Their growth has been propelled by trade, investment, technological diffusion and sophisticated production networks. To dismantle these connections in the name of "security" would be to undermine the very foundations of regional prosperity.

That is what makes the 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Finance Ministers' Meeting, scheduled for Oct 20-21 in Hong Kong, important. Bringing together finance ministers and representatives of 21 economies, it is a test of whether economic cooperation can prevail over rivalry.

China has chosen "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together" as the theme of the 2026 APEC China Year with "openness, innovation and cooperation" as the priorities.

At a time when some multilateral gatherings are consumed by disputes over sanctions, tariffs and strategic alignments, China is putting shared development rather than division at the center of the discussion.

The focus of the finance ministers' meeting is on fiscal policies that improve people's well-being, financing for digital infrastructure, inclusive finance and exchanges among young financial professionals. These address a central contradiction confronting the region: technological advances are creating unprecedented opportunities for growth, while financial fragmentation and uneven access to capital threaten to prevent many economies from benefiting.

Artificial intelligence illustrates the dilemma. Its promise of higher productivity depends on enormous investment in digital networks, computing infrastructure and electricity. Yet the benefits will remain concentrated unless financing reaches smaller businesses and developing economies. Mobilizing private capital, improving financial inclusion and coordinating fiscal policies are therefore not peripheral concerns. They are prerequisites for making technological progress broadly beneficial.

Nor can financial stability be secured through unilateral measures. Capital flows across borders; so do financial shocks. Supply chains cannot be made more resilient simply by dividing them along geopolitical lines. The more uncertain the international environment is, the greater the economic value of predictable rules, policy dialogue and institutional cooperation becomes.

It is hoped the discussions in Hong Kong can help yield some common understandings among the participants on digital infrastructure financing, livelihood-oriented fiscal policies and inclusive finance.

As a major global financial center, Hong Kong embodies the economic advantages of connectivity. Trade with other APEC economies accounts for 87 percent of its total trade. Its position as an international financial center and offshore renminbi hub enables capital to move between the Chinese mainland and global markets.

The meeting will help prepare financial-sector outcomes for November's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen. The agenda of the Hong Kong gathering demonstrates China's commitment to APEC's founding mission of fostering economic growth and enhancing people's well-being. Participants should uphold the principles of open development, shared opportunities and win-win outcomes, advance inclusive economic globalization, and build an Asia-Pacific community.

The member economies of APEC need not agree on everything to engage in cooperation that benefits the region as a whole. They should realize that interdependence is not necessarily a vulnerability to be eliminated, but an opportunity to be managed.

The Asia-Pacific did not become the world's growth engine by treating prosperity as a zero-sum game. It would be a costly irony if, having demonstrated the benefits of openness to the world, it now embraced the very fragmentation that threatens those gains. The real question in Hong Kong is therefore not whether the region can afford greater cooperation. It is whether it can afford anything less.