Editor's note: Sun Pin, an assistant professor at the School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, and an affiliated researcher at the Center for Research on Global Energy Strategy at the university. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026 is held from March 24 to 27, bringing together around 2,000 representatives from more than 60 countries and regions under the theme "Shaping the Future Together: New Dynamics, New Opportunities, New Cooperation."

At a time of profound changes in the global landscape, the forum sent a clear message to the world: Asia will not retreat in the face of headwinds. Instead, it will respond with closer regional cooperation, deeper industrial integration and a stronger commitment to openness. In doing so, Asia is offering something increasingly valuable to an uncertain world a sense of certainty.

New direction for Asia-Pacific cooperation

This year's forum addressed a central question: as global growth slows, geopolitical risks rise and protectionism intensifies, how can the Asia-Pacific sustain both growth and stability? 

As Ban Ki-moon, BFA chairman and former UN Secretary-General, noted at the plenary session, the world is now standing at a historical crossroads, with uncertainty continuing to mount. That has made one issue especially prominent at this year's forum: how the Asia-Pacific can preserve cooperation and development amid growing turbulence.

The signals coming out of Boao suggest that regional cooperation is moving from broad consensus toward more action-oriented efforts. The old growth model, driven largely by low-cost factors and external demand, is gradually losing momentum. In its place, artificial intelligence (AI), green transformation and the digital economy are rapidly emerging as new pillars of regional growth.

At the same time, the meaning of regional cooperation is also evolving. It is no longer confined to trade and investment facilitation. Increasingly, it is reflected in coordinated industrial and supply chains, aligned rules and standards, and the collective ability to withstand external shocks. In other words, regional cooperation is no longer just a development agenda. It has also become a key mechanism for stabilizing expectations and strengthening resilience.

Ban also described the Boao Forum for Asia as one of the few international organizations still committed to rebuilding trust, fostering solidarity and reviving cooperation. That observation is telling. The more turbulent and complex the external environment becomes, the more Asia needs platforms like Boao to deepen communication, build consensus and advance cooperation.

As outside pressures intensify, the Asia-Pacific has not turned inward. Instead, it has placed greater emphasis on regional integration as a way to hedge against risk. Whether in trade, green transition, digital development, or financial cooperation, the direction is the same: toward a more resilient and sustainable path of development.

At the forum, Ban formally released the Initiative of the Boao Forum for Asia on Promoting Asian Regional Cooperation, calling on Asian countries to turn challenges into opportunities while effectively guarding against external risks, and to further strengthen endogenous growth and economic resilience. This further highlights the forum's clear shift from building consensus to promoting implementation.

That is precisely the deeper significance of Boao. It not only reaffirms the importance of cooperation, but also turns the broad principle of "strengthening cooperation" into more practical questions: how to cooperate, in which areas and through what mechanisms.

How China can deepen Asia-Pacific supply chain integration

China played a particularly important role at this year's forum. It is not only one of Asia's key economies, but also one of the strongest drivers of regional cooperation. The real question is how China can turn the consensus reached at Boao Forum into concrete momentum for cooperation.

First, China's vast domestic market means stable demand. One of the biggest global uncertainties today comes from volatile external demand. In this context, a Chinese market with enormous domestic demand potential is itself a major stabilizer for the regional economy. The more stable and expansive China's demand is, the stronger the internal circulation of Asia-Pacific industrial chains will become.

Second, China can drive regional industrial upgrading through innovation and new quality productive forces. Asia-Pacific cooperation can no longer remain at the stage of traditional manufacturing-based division of labor. It must move toward higher-end, smarter and greener development. China's continued investment in AI, advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure and new energy is not only strengthening its own competitiveness; it is also creating new space for technology spillovers, industrial coordination and application-based cooperation across the region.

Third, China can enhance the security and sustainability of regional supply chains through green transformation. Energy security and green development are increasingly intertwined. China's advances in clean energy, green manufacturing and low-carbon infrastructure are serving not only its own transition, but also opening new possibilities for regional cooperation.

Finally, China can move cooperation from intention to mechanism through high-level opening up. Deep industrial and supply chain integration cannot rely on spontaneous business interaction alone. It also requires institutions, platforms and rules. By continuing to expand high-level opening up, China can provide a more stable and predictable institutional environment for regional cooperation.

Ultimately, China's leadership in regional development is not defined by economic size alone. It also depends on whether China can continue to provide several forms of support that the region needs most: market demand, innovation momentum, green development experience and open platforms.

From broad consensus to practical levers

The Boao Forum has already pointed to the direction of Asia-Pacific cooperation. The next step is to turn that direction into practical pathways.

Industrial chain coordination will become the main axis of regional cooperation. The region's future competitiveness will depend not simply on cost advantages, but on whether it can build industrial networks that are more stable, more efficient and more technologically advanced.

Connectivity will also expand beyond traditional infrastructure. In the future, cooperation will not be judged only by whether goods can move smoothly, but also by whether data can flow efficiently, whether energy networks are reliable and whether service systems are better connected. That means digital and green connectivity will matter just as much as physical connectivity.

At the same time, financial and payment cooperation will become an important foundation for deeper integration. Long-term industrial cooperation and trade growth require financial systems that are safer, more efficient and lower in cost.

Green and digital sectors are also likely to become the most widely shared engines of new growth. Areas such as AI, green energy and the blue economy combine strong development potential with broad room for cooperation. They are well positioned to become the next major growth drivers for the region.

In short, Asia-Pacific cooperation is moving beyond broad declarations. It is entering a more practical phase, shaped by industrial coordination, connectivity, financial support and green-digital transformation.

The central message of this year's Boao Forum is clear: even as global uncertainty rises, the Asia-Pacific still has the capacity to move forward, and it is beginning to form a more practical path for doing so.

For China, sustaining regional leadership is not just about maintaining its own growth. More importantly, it is about turning its market advantages, innovation capacity, open platforms and green transition experience into shared drivers of regional development.

Only in this way can the voice of Boao truly move from forum discussion to real-world impact. And only in this way can the "certainty" that Asia provides become one of the most valuable public goods in an age of "uncertainty."