HONG KONG, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) — As 2025 approaches, the Asia-Pacific region is emerging as a leader in the global technological landscape, with artificial intelligence (AI) seen as a defining catalyst for economic growth and cross-border collaboration. A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group reveals that employees in the Asia-Pacific are adopting generative AI tools at a pace that outstrips their global counterparts, indicating a robust enthusiasm for AI innovations.
With approximately one-third of the world’s population, the region is rapidly expanding its innovation capabilities, placing itself at the center of the AI transition. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that AI could generate nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars in economic gains over the next decade across Asia. In a landmark move, leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) adopted a joint declaration in November, acknowledging AI’s potential to reshape global economies by unlocking avenues for innovation, enhancing productivity, and bolstering economic resilience.
For the first time, APEC has placed AI at the core of its agenda, launching an initiative aimed at fostering deeper cooperation among economies in the region. Notably, China holds nearly 70 percent of global AI patents, positioning it as a significant player in the technological landscape. This dominance has led many countries in the region to look to China for its technological capacity and application-driven innovations to translate AI’s potential into inclusive growth and shared benefits.
Christine Susanna Tjhin, director of strategic communication and research at Indonesia’s Gentala Institute, remarked, “China will be able to contribute to global growth by accelerating the development of next-generation industries such as renewable energy ecosystems, helping shape international technological standards in areas including AI governance and cybersecurity, and promoting stronger intra-Asian trade and investment flows through deeper and broader regional integration.”
At the recent APEC meetings, China committed to collaborating with all member nations to enhance AI literacy and bridge the digital divide in the Asia-Pacific. The establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization reflects this commitment, as China aims to offer public goods on AI through cooperative development strategies, governance rules, and technological standards.
Concrete examples of this cooperation are already in motion. Singapore’s national AI program, AI Singapore, recently unveiled the Qwen-SEA-LION-v4, a Southeast Asian multilingual large language model built on Alibaba’s open-source Qwen foundation model, designed to meet the region’s diverse linguistic and cultural needs. Leslie Teo, senior director of AI Products at AI Singapore, noted, “Our collaboration with Alibaba on Qwen-SEA-LION-v4 is an important milestone in advancing AI inclusivity and to make it more representative of Southeast Asia.”
China’s innovation-driven cooperation is making strides across various sectors, from AI-powered smart sorting systems that improve the grading and trade of Malaysian durians to cloud-based early warning systems developed with countries like Pakistan, the Solomon Islands, and Laos, aimed at enhancing disaster preparedness and climate resilience. In terms of capacity building, China is actively sharing its expertise with neighboring countries; the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has organized several AI training programs for Vietnamese officials and hosted an AI innovation cooperation workshop that gathered participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Mongolia.
Philip Schellekens, chief economist for the UNDP in the Asia and Pacific region, cautioned, “Countries that invest in skills, computing power and sound governance systems will benefit; others risk being left far behind.” This sentiment resonates with the APEC AI Initiative adopted during this year’s meetings, which emphasized the need for ongoing efforts to bolster security, accessibility, trustworthiness, and reliability in realizing AI’s benefits through balanced and human-centered approaches to workforce development, education, and capacity building.
As the region looks forward to APEC 2026 in China, further collaboration on frontier technologies, expansion of digital public services, and promotion of interoperability of standards are anticipated. The focus will be on ensuring that the benefits of technology are shared equitably across the Asia-Pacific. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu highlighted this potential during the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting, stating, “Shenzhen is widely recognized as a global innovation hub, and we are ready to share our experience with all partners and contribute to the region’s innovative growth.”
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