Foreign Minister Wang Yi (centre) attends the opening session of the First Senior Officials’ Meeting of APEC China 2026 in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Asia-Pacific community highlighted at meeting

(China Daily/ANN) -- Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for closer regional cooperation amid rising unilateralism, growing protectionism and worsening economic fragmentation in the world, in order to build a prosperous, stable, open and interconnected Asia-Pacific community.
Wang made the remarks when addressing the opening session of the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Senior Officials’ Meeting in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The event precedes the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which is scheduled for November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, Guangdong.
As the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, the challenges facing Asia-Pacific development are mounting and regional economic integration is encountering headwinds, he noted.
“Against this backdrop, China fully recognises that our third time as APEC host carries with it significant responsibilities as well as a glorious mission,” Wang said, referring to the previous APEC leaders’ meetings held in 2001 in Shanghai and in 2014 in Beijing.
In order to build a better Asia-Pacific community, he underlined the importance of upholding the postwar international order and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, which he said form the very foundation of prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the wider world.” This is especially valuable today and deserves to be dearly cherished,” he added.
Noting that the Asia-Pacific region owes its success to a peaceful and stable environment, as well as to the APEC economies’ commitment to promoting economic globalisation and advancing regional economic integration, Wang highlighted the need for member economies to follow the “APEC way” by building consensus through consultation, handling differences properly and keeping regional cooperation on the right track.
“We should strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, uphold open regionalism, advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, ensure the safe and orderly flow of people, goods, capital and data, and build closer industrial and supply chains,” he said.
Wang called for safeguarding the multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organisation and leveraging the guiding role of regional trade arrangements to foster greater connectivity among various regional free trade agreements and gather momentum toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, or FTAAP.
The theme for APEC 2026 is “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together”, with “openness, innovation and cooperation” set as the three priorities to realise the vision of building a prosperous and stable Asia-Pacific community.

(Latest Update February 12, 2026)