BEIJING: The APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting, the first China held as the host of the 2026 APEC, concluded in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, on Friday, marking the opening of the APEC “China Year,” as China is set to host about 300 events throughout 2026. Notably, China proposed openness, innovation and cooperation as the three priorities for the APEC “China Year” and “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” as its theme, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Experts said that amid profound global uncertainty, openness, innovation and cooperation are the key to boost regional development, and by setting these priorities, China demonstrated its commitment as the host to promoting win-win development in the region and beyond. This is also in line with China’s plan for expanding opening-up outlined by the 2026 Central Economic Work Conference concluded on Thursday, experts noted.
The APEC Symposium and Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting was held from Thursday to Friday. The theme China proposed, “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together,” was highly commended by various parties and adopted unanimously at the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on Friday.
Meanwhile, in the face of new opportunities and new challenges to the development of the Asia-Pacific, China identified “openness, innovation and cooperation” as the three priorities for next year’s APEC cooperation, Guo added.
There will be around 300 events to be hosted by multiple cities around China during the APEC “China Year.” From November 18 to 19 next year, the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting will be held in Shenzhen, and there will also be supporting events, including the APEC CEO Summit and the APEC Ministerial Meeting, according to the spokesperson.
Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that China’s focus on openness, innovation and cooperation offers the region a framework for cooperation and deeper economic integration amid great uncertainty for regional and global economies.
Meanwhile, these priorities for APEC 2026 are also in line with China’s key economic tasks for 2026 as outlined by the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference, a critical meeting for economic work for the upcoming year, experts noted.
The meeting underscored the need to steadily advance institutional opening-up, and promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation to develop new quality productive forces, according to Xinhua.
Tian Yun, an economist based in Beijing, said that China’s continuous opening-up will create more opportunities for other economies, including those in the APEC.
“We enlarge imports and continuously improve the business environment, providing APEC economies with the market space and resource factors they need for industrial upgrading,” Tian told the Global Times on Friday.
Meanwhile, China actively aligns with high-standard international rules, puts forward Chinese solutions in areas such as digital governance and green finance, and uses pilot cities to explore institutional opening in cross-border services trade and data flows, Wang noted.
“This not only helps member economies improve production efficiency and accelerate low-carbon transitions, but also strengthens regional supply-chain resilience through localized cooperation, creating a two-way empowerment ecosystem that benefits all parties,” said Wang.
Experts also pointed out that the host city Shenzhen itself is a prime example of China’s continuous opening-up and its great achievements. Shenzhen will be the third Chinese city to host the APEC meeting, after Shanghai and Beijing. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
