APEC 2022: Returning to the Path of the Pacific

Among all the major international meetings held in 2022, the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on November 18 and 19 will likely be one of the most significant. After years of pandemic and trade disruptions stemming from it, the leaders of the world’s most dynamic region will meet again at a rather complex moment.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, recently endowed with total power, is expected to arrive in Thailand; Russian President Vladimir Putin, architect of an unpopular war, will be absent to avoid discomfort (he will be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov); and Vice President Kamala Harris will represent a United States seeking to reduce tensions in the area while simultaneously strengthening alliances.

The three powers have been engaged in verbal confrontations and imposing sanctions for nearly a year over issues such as the invasion of Ukraine and the naval blockade of Taiwan (which is also part of APEC), making it difficult to recreate the atmosphere of optimism that once prevailed in this forum, where leaders would pose for photographs smiling in colorful traditional garments of the host country. From batik shirts to Doñihue ponchos.

To some extent, APEC may seem like an anachronism, a remnant of a time when it was believed that trade and investment would be sufficient arguments to overcome geopolitics or ideological positions among rivals. In the long run, this was not the case. While liberal powers bet on connectivity and overcoming borders, authoritarian or conservative powers remained interested in conquering territories and controlling spheres of influence.

Hong Kong, for example, continues to be listed as an individual economy, although in practice its political leadership requires the approval of Beijing. Sovereignty disputes in the Asian seas are commonplace, which explains the widespread increase in military spending in the region. Countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, and New Zealand have even adopted the “Indo-Pacific” as a strategic reference framework, which is a shift from the Asia-Pacific, primarily commercial in nature.

Hence the importance of this summit in understanding how the dynamics of cooperation and competition, which have so far managed to coexist, will come together. President Gabriel Boric will have a unique opportunity to gauge on-site the significance of a region where Chile was a pioneer in establishing connections, thereby building a successful reputation, which is now fading due to the stubbornness in delaying the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) through side-letters and the markedly Latin American turn in foreign policy, which among its poor ideas seems to risk the creation of a lithium cartel.

Despite all the turbulence facing APEC, it is impossible not to recognize that the opening of its economies has brought unprecedented prosperity to member countries, boosting their growth and creating new export sectors. Today, this forum offers both a privileged showcase for a country like Chile, which needs investments in a recessionary context and to diversify its trade in light of new dependencies, as well as a unique space to understand that international politics is about promoting national interests in the most challenging context in decades. And it was not easy to get there.