Trade and Economic Integration in the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

In 2021 New Zealand will chair APEC within a very different AsiaPacific economy than was the case when New Zealand last chaired APEC in 1999. The Asia-Pacific production network is now much more intensive, covers more economies and is a much larger and more influential part of the international economy than was the Japan-led ‘flying geese’ model of the years before 1999. The single most important change is China’s increasingly pivotal role in both the Asia-Pacific and the global economy, despite continuing challenges. United States dominance of the international framework is more constrained. Adaptation, which has always characterised global and regional governance, will continue as China and the US contest technological leadership and the formulation of international rules and norms, especially in response to the digital revolution.