As China welcomes the Lunar New Year, activities related to the "Year of China" of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation are also being held vigorously. The first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting and related conferences in 2026 will be held in Guangzhou from February 1st to 10th; The first meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council in 2026 was held in Jakarta, Indonesia from the 7th to the 9th. All parties present expressed their willingness to actively participate in cooperation during the 'Year of China'.

Last December, the 2026 APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Shenzhen, marking the official start of the highly anticipated "China Year" of APEC. In 2026, China will host the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) for the third time, and for the second time in 12 years, demonstrating its high importance and responsibility for Asia Pacific cooperation.

Steadily promote institutional opening, expand unilateral opening fields and regions, orderly expand independent opening in service fields, and expand the network of high standard free trade areas... China, with its increasingly open door, will continue to strengthen its leadership in the overall cooperation in the Asia Pacific region. It is China's firm choice to provide new opportunities for the Asia Pacific region and the world with the new achievements of Chinese path to modernization. The "Year of China" of APEC is worth looking forward to.

All parties look forward to APEC's "Year of China" to promote economic and trade cooperation

The first Senior Officials' Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the first official event hosted by China as the host of APEC in 2026, aimed at accumulating policy achievements and consensus foundation for the informal leaders' meeting to be held in November.

During this meeting, Casey Mees, a senior official of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), led a US delegation consisting of over 50 government and private sector representatives, demonstrating the importance that the US attaches to the "China Year" of APEC.

Metz said that the United States regards the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation as an important platform for promoting pro-business economic policies in the region. The US private sector will continue to be a key partner, working with the government to promote economic and trade cooperation with other economies in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

During the meeting, Indonesian Minister of Ocean and Investment Coordination, Panjaitan, expressed his expectation for deepening the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and promoting coordinated development with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), promoting higher-level openness in goods, services, and investment. At the same time, he supported China in building a platform for connecting the business community and helping Indonesian enterprises better expand into the Asia Pacific market.

Peruvian Ambassador to China Vasquez expressed his hope to deepen cooperation between Peru and other economies in infrastructure, logistics, and agricultural trade through the "China Year" of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, promote the integration of projects such as Qiankai Port with the Chinese market, and enhance Peru's position in the Asia Pacific supply chain.

As the first important business event of the "China Year" held by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, during the first meeting of the Business Advisory Council, representatives of the Asia Pacific business community had in-depth exchanges in four key areas: regional economic integration, sustainable development, digital innovation, and connectivity. They put forward multiple constructive proposals and identified "openness, connectivity, and synergy" as the annual theme, calling on the Asia Pacific region to maintain market openness, accelerate economic integration, and strengthen innovation cooperation.

It is reported that in 2026, the "China Year" of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will hold about 300 meetings and events, and the second senior officials' meeting and related meetings will be held in Shanghai in May. The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce that the 32nd APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting will also be held in Suzhou in May this year, focusing on discussing major economic and trade issues in the Asia Pacific and globally, promoting cooperation in regional economic integration and the construction of the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area, supporting the multilateral trading system, strengthening digital cooperation, and developing green economy, and achieving practical results, in preparation for the November APEC Leaders' Informal Meeting in terms of economic and trade.

China continues to inject new impetus into regional economic integration

Building an Asia Pacific Free Trade Area is a shared vision of APEC members to promote regional economic integration. The "2025 APEC Leaders' Qingzhou Declaration" released at the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting proposes to advance the agenda of the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area and promote economic integration in the Asia Pacific region through market-oriented means.

Zhou Yamin, Director of the Regional Cooperation Office at the Asia Pacific and Global Strategy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated that at the 2014 Beijing meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, all parties decided to launch and promote the process of the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area, taking a substantial step towards realizing the goal of the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area. Since then, members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation have steadily advanced related work towards a common goal, with China playing an important leading role in it.

In the view of Zhang Jingjia, Associate Researcher at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Research Center of Nankai University, as the driving force and propeller of Asia Pacific regional cooperation, China is the largest trading partner of the 13 APEC economies and plays a role as the "ballast stone" of regional economy.

The reporter learned from Chinese customs that by 2025, China's total import and export of goods to other economies in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation will reach 2.629 trillion yuan, accounting for 57.82% of the total foreign trade value during the same period. It is particularly worth mentioning that China has achieved a leap from "processing and manufacturing" to "research and development+manufacturing+services" in the regional supply chain, exerting two-way efforts in the import and export of APEC economies. Among them, the export of high-tech products reached 4.63 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%, and the import of key fields such as energy, agricultural products, semiconductor equipment, and precision instruments also maintained rapid growth.

Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China, stated in an interview with International Business Daily that in recent years, China's economic and trade relations with various members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation have been continuously deepening, and many of them have signed free trade agreements. These cooperation mechanisms have paved the way for APEC to further deepen cooperation and achieve higher levels of development.

China has always actively advocated for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to achieve regional economic integration. While expanding the openness among its members, it also promotes the openness of the entire Asia Pacific region to the world. Liu Ying said that in the future, China will continue to promote the optimization and integration of regional cooperation mechanisms to advance the economic integration process in the Asia Pacific region.

Zhang Jingjia stated that promoting the process of the Asia Pacific Free Trade Area remains one of the important tasks for the "China Year" of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2026, and believes that China will push all parties to take new steps towards this goal.