The gathering at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026 this week in Hainan province comes at a moment of unusual strain in the global system. Conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, rising protectionism and the spread of "de-risking" have eroded global trade and investment cooperation. In such a climate, the conference has an important role to play as a confidence builder.

This year's theme — "Shaping the Future Together: New Trends, New Opportunities and New Cooperation" — reflects economic necessity. Globalization is no longer simply slowing in the face of these headwinds; it is fragmenting. Supply chains are being reforged, and capital flows are being rechanneled based on security concerns, real or fabricated, rather than efficiency. Policy uncertainty is rising. The result is a world economy that is less cohesive and less predictable.

Against this backdrop, the conference in Boao advances a clear proposition that Asia's continued prosperity depends on deeper cooperation, not strategic retreat.

Despite the global turbulence, the region has reason for confidence. Asia remains the world's primary growth engine, with its economy forecast to expand by 4.5 percent in 2026, according to a report released by the forum on Tuesday. Asia accounts for roughly half of world growth and an expanding share of trade. Integration has continued through frameworks such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Production networks spanning East and Southeast Asia remain among the most sophisticated globally.

China's policy trajectory under the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) adds further momentum to this process. By prioritizing the quality of growth, as well as innovation and the green transition, the plan means opportunities for economies in Asia and beyond. China will generate increased demand for inputs, investment and expertise from other economies, while providing its own to the world. This dynamic — already visible in regional supply chains — will be conducive to promoting industrial upgrading across Southeast Asia.

Innovation is central to this dynamic. With sustained investment in research and emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence and clean energy, China is poised to generate technological spillovers that extend across the region. For many Asian economies, particularly within Southeast Asia and Central Asia, these spillovers will come through investment, joint ventures and integration into more advanced value chains.

Green development provides further momentum for integration. Continued expansion in this sector will reduce costs and widen access, enabling faster decarbonization across the region. Coordinated policies are needed to further amplify these gains.

China's commitment to high-standard opening-up — exemplified by the Hainan Free Trade Port — reinforces this outward orientation. Expanded market access, improved financial linkages and freer flows of goods and services offer regional partners both opportunity and policy predictability at a time of growing global uncertainty.

Yet resilience is not immunity. Multilateralism, in this context, is less an ideal than a proactive safeguard for continued dynamism, ensuring coordination for financial stability, climate action and technological governance.

The conference in Boao seeks to provide precisely this coordination. Its program of dialogues reflects a recognition that the next phase of regional growth will depend on aligning policies across innovation, governance, green development and supply chains. Without shared frameworks that the ongoing conference aims to foster, the risk is fragmentation in standards that would impose high costs on an interconnected region.

Supply chains illustrate a similar tension. For Asia, whose prosperity rests on cross-border production networks, the more viable strategy is diversification within a framework of managed openness. Strengthening financial safeguards, improving cross-border payment systems and enhancing connectivity are all advisable ways to build resilience without sacrificing efficiency.

China remains pivotal for these regional endeavors. As the world's second-largest economy and major trading partner of 157 economies as of late last year, the country contributes close to 30 percent of global growth and anchors regional supply chains. Leveraging this will be critical for the region's common development.

History offers grounds for cautious optimism. East and Southeast Asia's postwar success was built on integration: trade, investment and the diffusion of technology. Growth was sustained by openness combined with domestic reform. That lesson retains its relevance.

The greater risk today lies in external pressures that could fracture this model. The Asian economies have a strong interest in resisting such trends, and properly handling their differences. Conflicts elsewhere should reinforce the value of regional stability.