Middle powers urged to strengthen ties between international hubs — South China Morning Post
A possible meeting in China of the leaders of the United States, China and Russia — an aggressor state — at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen this November has again prompted comparisons with the Yalta Conference. The South China Morning Post noted that Moscow allows for the possibility of a trilateral meeting, but it has not yet taken place. The column’s author believes that middle powers can develop international cooperation regardless of agreements among major powers.
A network of specialized centers
The author proposes developing polycentric functional multilateralism — a system of permanent ties between specialized international centers. He describes New York as a hub of universal political legitimacy and Geneva as a center for institutions in trade, health, labor, humanitarian assistance, human rights and technical cooperation.
Vienna is associated with nuclear governance and arms control, Nairobi with environmental governance, Brussels with regulatory policy, Basel with central banking, and Singapore with finance and shipping. Among emerging centers, the author names Shanghai, which hosts the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the New Development Bank and the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization Waico.
Examples of possible ties between such centers cited in the column include cooperation between Geneva and Shanghai on AI governance, and between Geneva and Nairobi on the energy, water and environmental costs of AI infrastructure. Basel, Singapore and Hong Kong could, in the author’s view, deepen cooperation in digital finance and financial stability.
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Cooperation beyond summits
Such ties, according to the author’s concept, should rely not only on conferences but also on regular working groups, staff exchanges, joint fellowship programs, data sharing, mutual observation, compatible reporting and joint financing.
Switzerland, Kenya, Thailand, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates can provide the physical, legal and diplomatic infrastructure for such contacts. South Korea, Indonesia, Brazil or Turkey could finance joint initiatives, coordinate regulatory approaches and co-chair functional coalitions.
As a partial example, the article mentions the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, whose teams work in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Stockholm, Toronto and the Frankfurt-Paris Centre. The author stresses that technical cooperation will not eliminate the strategic rivalry of major powers, but it can limit its impact on finance, health, climate, AI safety, humanitarian issues and trade.
