Lan Qingxin and Xue Yuanjie: How APEC's' Year of China 'Helps Promote Asia Pacific Prosperity
On February 10th, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the opening ceremony of the first high-level meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2026 in Guangzhou and delivered a speech. As the first official event in the annual cooperation process, this meeting focuses on the theme of the 2026 APEC meeting "Building the Asia Pacific Community and Promoting Common Prosperity" and the three priority areas of "Openness, Innovation, and Cooperation", comprehensively launching cooperation in various fields and mechanisms. This meeting not only consolidates consensus for the follow-up activities and cooperation of APEC's "Year of China", but also demonstrates China's more proactive, open, and pragmatic attitude in promoting stable and far-reaching Asia Pacific cooperation, injecting more certainty and positive energy into Asia and the world.
Currently, the foundation of global economic recovery is still unstable, with geopolitical conflicts, economic and trade frictions, and industrial chain reshaping intertwined. Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, and the global governance system is undergoing profound adjustments. In this context, countries generally face the problems of unstable expectations and insufficient confidence. As the most dynamic and potential economic region in the world, the cooperation situation in the Asia Pacific region not only affects its own development, but also profoundly influences the direction of the world economy. The launch of APEC's "Year of China" injects stabilizing force into Asia Pacific cooperation at a critical time, releasing China's determination to maintain multilateral cooperation and adhere to open development.
Since its establishment, APEC has always advocated open regionalism, adopted a voluntary and consensual cooperation approach, and demonstrated unique resilience in the complex and ever-changing international environment. Unlike exclusive and closed cooperation mechanisms, APEC focuses more on building consensus and bridging differences, playing a role as a glue and stabilizer in the Asia Pacific cooperation framework. The first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting and related conferences in 2026 will conduct in-depth discussions on various topics such as trade and investment, economic and technological cooperation, technological innovation, digital economy, cross-border e-commerce, market access, oceans and fisheries, intellectual property, food security, health, connectivity, and digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises, laying a solid foundation for cooperation throughout the year. The agenda closely focuses on the practical challenges faced by Asia Pacific economies, and also responds to the international community's common expectation for a stable development environment, reflecting the practicality and forward-looking nature of the APEC cooperation agenda.
As one of the important venues for the APEC "Year of China" event, Shenzhen has a distinct symbolic significance. Since the reform and opening up, Shenzhen has grown from a small border town to an innovative city with global influence. Its development process itself is a vivid reflection of China's adherence to openness and integration into the world economy. Through the multilateral platform of APEC, Shenzhen will showcase China's practical achievements in digital economy, technological innovation, green transformation and other fields to numerous economies in the Asia Pacific region, and provide a practical carrier for all parties to strengthen experience exchange and expand pragmatic cooperation. What Shenzhen has demonstrated is not only its urban development experience, but also a concentrated reflection of China's complete set of institutional innovations in opening up to the outside world, providing useful references for Asia Pacific economies to cope with structural transformation and development challenges.
Looking towards the future, the key to better promoting APEC cooperation lies in translating consensus into action and implementing vision into results. In the complex and ever-changing global environment with significant regional differences, APEC needs to continuously enhance the inclusiveness, stability, and foresight of cooperation while adhering to the principle of consensus through consultation.
Taking capacity building as an important lever to enhance the inclusiveness of APEC cooperation. There are significant differences in the level of development within the Asia Pacific region. It is necessary to promote the exchange of policy experience, technical support, and talent training among economies, and to build an open, collaborative, and shared capacity building system. Through the APEC platform, promote the better integration of developing economies into regional cooperation processes, narrow the gap in areas such as digital transformation, green development, and industrial upgrading, and consolidate the social foundation of regional cooperation. Actively plan demonstration projects and public goods for Asia Pacific countries, promote the benefits of capacity building achievements to more economies, and achieve inclusive cooperation.
Focus on policy coordination and rule communication to enhance the stability of APEC cooperation. Faced with the increasing differentiation and uncertainty of global economic and trade rules, it is necessary to strengthen policy transparency and dialogue on rules, and promote the formation of replicable and promotable institutional arrangements. Based on the principles of autonomy, voluntariness, and consensus, we will strengthen policy information exchange, institutional mutual learning, and regulatory experience sharing to reduce cooperation costs caused by institutional differences. By establishing a regional rules dialogue mechanism and policy coordination platform, we aim to provide a stable and sustainable cooperation framework for the Asia Pacific economies, ensuring long-term stable development of the regional economy.
Driven by innovation, enhance the forward-looking nature of APEC cooperation. Promote policy exchanges, technological cooperation, and project demonstrations around cutting-edge fields such as digital economy, artificial intelligence, and green low-carbon, and form a scalable ecosystem for the application of innovative achievements. Against the backdrop of a new round of global technological revolution and industrial transformation, enhancing APEC's leadership ability on emerging issues through sharing development experience, accelerating technology diffusion, and cultivating demonstration projects. Drawing on the practical experience of innovative cities such as Shenzhen in technological innovation, digital governance, and industrial synergy, we aim to provide practical support for expanding cooperation topics, enriching cooperation forms, and cultivating new growth drivers in the region.
In the current era of increasing global uncertainty, certainty is the scarcest resource. Through a series of high-level meetings and practical cooperation arrangements, the APEC "China Year" has clearly conveyed an important signal to the international community: the direction of Asia Pacific cooperation has not changed, and the original intention of openness and inclusiveness has not been shaken. China is willing to work with all parties to continuously promote deeper and more practical APEC cooperation, injecting more stabilizing forces and positive expectations into the development of Asia and the world. (The authors are respectively the Director and Professor of the BRICS Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics, and a scholar at the School of International Economics and Trade)