APEC 2025: Where Global Leaders Meet, But Deals Get Done in the Hallway

APEC 2025: Multilateral Summit Yields to Bilateral Diplomacy in Asia-Pacific

Gyeongju, South Korea – The final week of October witnessed a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Asia-Pacific region, dubbed a “super week” of summits. While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings in Kuala Lumpur kicked off the week, the spotlight quickly shifted to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, hosted this year in Gyeongju, South Korea. However, despite the multilateral nature of these gatherings, bilateral agendas dominated the discussions, signaling a potential shift in the purpose and focus of APEC.

APEC 2025: Where Global Leaders Meet, But Deals Ge...

The presence, and subsequent abrupt departure, of U.S. President Donald Trump underscored this trend. Despite the broader APEC agenda, Trump prioritized bilateral talks, notably with China, and left Gyeongju before the Economic Leaders’ Meeting, the summit’s main event. Media attention, as a result, centered on potential U.S.-China dialogues, Korean trade deals with the U.S., and the possibility of renewed U.S.-North Korea negotiations – all revolving around the U.S. President.

Since its inception in 1989, APEC

Since its inception in 1989, APEC has expanded significantly, growing from 12 to 21 member economies, elevating its level of engagement from ministerial to summit meetings, and broadening its agenda to encompass political and security issues alongside economic matters. However, recent years have seen a deviation from its original vision of fostering economic integration and an open Asia-Pacific community.

The driving force behind this shift appears to be a retreat from multilateralism, spearheaded by the United States under President Trump. APEC, as a forum that includes both the U.S. and China, the world's two most powerful nations, has become a crucial venue for high-level engagement between them. This is particularly significant as competition between the two superpowers intensifies, making APEC a convenient and pre-arranged platform for leaders to meet annually, circumventing the complexities of negotiating separate summits.

This trend extends beyond the U.S. and China. APEC has increasingly become the preferred location for bilateral meetings among other nations within the region, allowing them to address pressing bilateral concerns on the sidelines of the larger summit. This development highlights APEC's evolving role as a facilitator of bilateral diplomacy, potentially overshadowing its original mandate of regional economic integration. Korea, with its history of hosting successful APEC meetings, including the pivotal 1991 ministerial meeting that facilitated the simultaneous admission of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, has played a significant role in this evolution.