In defence of diplomatic talkfests

Cynicism about multilateral meetings between world leaders is understandable.

Events like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting that wound up in Beijing earlier this week are expensive (the upcoming G20 gathering in Brisbane is expected to cost taxpayers close to $500 million) and the key deliverables are typically agreed to weeks, or even months, before the delegates are flown in.

However, this popular prejudice against diplomatic talkfests overlooks the tangible contribution they make to peace and prosperity.

As with other multilateral meetings, the real APEC action was on the sidelines of this year's leaders' meeting.

Media might have been fixated on the shirtfronting that never was and Russian President Vladimir Putin's purportedly flirtatious chivalry, but the most significant development was the tête-à-tête between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Although Abe received an initially frosty reception from Xi, the meeting was a diplomatic breakthrough. Sino-Japanese relations have been in a political deep freeze since Japan nationalised the Chinese-claimed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in 2012, and this is the first time that Xi and Abe have held formal talks since they each assumed office two years ago.
It is no coincidence that this all-important rendezvous took place on the sidelines of the APEC leaders' meeting.

A stand-alone bilateral meeting would have caused each leader considerable political pain with their respective nationalist constituencies. By contrast, the multilateral APEC forum offered the perfect political cover for Xi and Abe to have a crucial bilateral meeting without appearing to have accorded undue respect to the other side.

The peace dividend of warming Sino-Japanese relations is clear. China and Japan are divided by long-standing and inflammatory territorial and historical disputes, while their respective militaries are two of the world's most formidable fighting forces and regularly face off in the East China Sea.

There is also a less immediately obvious but nonetheless potentially large economic upside to such a thawing of ties.

A Chinese consumer boycott of Japanese goods provoked by the flare-up in the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute led to a more than 8% fall in imports from Japan in 2012, with Japanese investment in China also falling sharply at the end of that year.

Given that China and Japan are Australia's number one and number two trading partners, as well as the world's second and third biggest economies, Australia and the world at large clearly have a massive vested economic interest in Beijing and Tokyo mending their political relationship.

The upfront costs of multilateral meetings might seem big and the immediate benefits small. But when forums like the APEC leaders' meeting make it possible for hostile neighbours like China and Japan to partially repair relations, they offer a handsome long-term return on a comparatively modest investment.

Ben Herscovitch is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.