Firmly Upholding the Goal of an Asia-Pacific Community and
Opening a New Chapter in Regional Cooperation

—Remarks by H.E. Wang Yi at the Opening Session Of APEC 2026 First Senior Officials’ Meeting

Guangzhou, February 10, 2026

Senior Officials,
Dear Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

I’d like to welcome you all to Guangzhou for the first Senior Officials’ Meeting of APEC 2026. As the new year begins and all things are renewing, I’m delighted to join you to share ideas and accumulate outcomes for the APEC “China Year,” to provide fresh momentum for Asia-Pacific cooperation. 

This is the third time that China plays host to APEC—and the first after twelve years. Back in 2001, right on the eve of China’s WTO accession, we successfully held the APEC meeting in Shanghai, which signaled a fresh start for Asia-Pacific cooperation in the new century. In 2014, China, after entering the new era, hosted the Beijing meeting, where all parties made the commitment to fostering a forward-looking Asia-Pacific partnership and laid out a shared vision for our region’s long-term development and shared prosperity.

Over the past twelve years, APEC member economies have sustained steady growth. With roughly 40 percent of the world’s population, we’ve generated more than 60 percent of global GDP and nearly half of global trade, with more economic activity gravitating toward the Asia-Pacific.

Over the past twelve years, the region has pressed ahead the free trade process despite challenges. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) have all come into force and are being implemented, playing an increasingly active role in guiding multilateral economic and trade rules.

Over the past twelve years, APEC member economies have embraced the information age. Internet penetration has jumped from 52 percent to nearly 90 percent. Digital economy, artificial intelligence, new-energy vehicles, and other industries are booming, making our region a global hotspot for innovation and growth.

Over the past twelve years, despite geopolitical tensions, the backlash against globalization, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asia-Pacific has deepened regional cooperation and emerged as the engine of global growth, the champion of regional integration, and the vanguard of innovation-driven development.

At the same time, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and the challenges facing Asia-Pacific development are mounting. Unilateralism and protectionism are spreading, economic fragmentation is worsening, and regional economic integration faces headwinds. Against this backdrop, China fully recognizes that our third time as APEC host carries with it significant responsibilities as well as a glorious mission.

On the critical question of our time—“Where should Asia-Pacific development be headed?”—President Xi Jinping has pointed the way forward: stay true to APEC’s founding mission of promoting economic growth and improving people’s lives, champion open development where everyone shares opportunities and emerges a winner, promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and build an Asia-Pacific community.

To achieve this goal, first, we should build a prosperous and stable Asia-Pacific. History tells us that upholding the postwar international order and the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter is the very foundation of prosperity and stability in our region and the wider world. This lesson is especially valuable today and deserves to be dearly cherished. The Asia-Pacific owes its success to a peaceful and stable environment, as well as to our commitment to ride the wave of economic globalization and advance regional economic integration. We should follow the “APEC Way” by building consensus through consultation, handling differences properly, and keeping regional cooperation on the right track. We should uphold the principle of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit, focus on practical cooperation, deepen convergence of interests, and achieve shared prosperity.

Second, we should build an open and interconnected Asia-Pacific. Our vast landmass and the expansive ocean offer limitless space for economic cooperation; openness is the lifeblood of APEC economies. 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. We should safeguard the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, leverage the guiding role of regional trade arrangements, foster greater connectivity among various regional free trade agreements, and gather momentum toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

Third, we should build a universally beneficial and inclusive Asia-Pacific. While economic globalization has fueled trade prosperity and economic growth, it has also brought about uneven development as a result of global resource allocation. APEC economies should act on the principle of universal benefit and inclusiveness, explore paths to regional economic integration that is more balanced and sustainable, and push economic globalization forward along a healthy track. We should strengthen economic and technological cooperation, scale up support for developing economies, and ensure that emerging technologies like AI benefit more people. We should put people first, grow the economic pie and distribute it fairly, so that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and vulnerable groups can share more in the fruits of development. We should champion green and low-carbon development, promote green economic growth, and achieve sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific.

Fourth, we should build a united and mutually supportive Asia-Pacific. Over the past 30-plus years since APEC’s founding, we have always stood together and navigated challenges shoulder to shoulder. We have overcome natural disasters, financial crises, the global pandemic, and successfully addressed various risks and challenges. This has enabled our region to stand tall at the forefront of the world economy. Through it all, the sense of an Asia-Pacific community has won more hearts and minds and become the spiritual bond linking all APEC economies together. The Putrajaya Vision 2040 reaffirmed the goal of an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community. We should uphold APEC’s purposes and principles, work in solidarity, forge ahead with resolve, and strive to open up a new era of Asia-Pacific development.

It is with these considerations in mind that China has chosen the theme “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” for this year. It both carries forward APEC’s consistent vision and reflects a deeper commitment to further elevating regional cooperation, based on the achievements already made. Looking into 2026, China will focus on the three priorities of openness, innovation, and cooperation, and advance the following key tasks:

—Firmly upholding one main goal. We should reaffirm the original aspirations of Asia-Pacific cooperation, focus on the future of APEC, and work toward a clear, substantive outcome document at this year’s Leaders’ Meeting. We should be more determined than ever to hold high the banner of building an Asia-Pacific community and explore objectives and a roadmap for community-building in the period ahead.

—Exploring two key pathways. The FTAAP and a network of connectivity would be important underpinnings for regional economic integration. We should build consensus on cooperation in trade, investment, regulation, and industrial and supply chains, and explore ways to better synergize the RCEP and CPTPP to broaden the path toward the FTAAP. The APEC Connectivity Blueprint for 2015-2025 proposed at the 2014 Beijing meeting has already delivered important progress. We should build on that, identify more converging interests, work toward an upgraded blueprint, and make physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity more solid and effective.

—Accelerating three major transformations. Digital, smart, and green transformations driven by innovation represent new growth drivers for APEC economies and the sure path to sustainable development. We should actively build science, technology, and innovation partnerships and foster an open innovation ecosystem. We should fully leverage our strengths in digital technologies to advance practical cooperation in cross-border e-commerce, data flows, smart customs, etc. We should also advocate people-centered AI and AI for good, and build greater consensus on how AI can empower growth and on AI governance rules. We should speed up green and low-carbon development, and put forward more cooperation initiatives in clean energy, green minerals, environmental protection, and related fields.

—Deepening multifaceted cooperation. We should bear in mind the diversity among APEC members, and deepen practical cooperation across wide-ranging areas of governance that are integral to development. On fighting corruption, we should build on the outcomes and consensus from the Beijing meeting and strengthen cross-border cooperation. In response to the common development challenges confronting the entire Asia-Pacific region, we should deepen practical cooperation in fiscal, transportation, tourism, public health, aging, food security, and other fields. We should also strengthen interactions among SMEs and in the fields of human resources, women, youth and the media, facilitate mutual travels, and forge closer people-to-people ties.

Senior Officials,

The APEC “China Year” coincides with the opening year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period. China will further deepen reform comprehensively, continue expanding high-standard opening up, and deliver new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific and the wider world with the new achievements of Chinese modernization. As the host, China will build on APEC’s existing consensus and outcomes, and make new contributions to Asia-Pacific cooperation. I am confident that by the time of the Leaders’ Meeting this autumn, we will harvest a substantive and impressive list of outcomes.

The Year of the Horse is just days away. I wish you all a successful and prosperous year! And I look forward to seeing, through our joint efforts, APEC charging ahead like a galloping horse toward the goal of an Asia-Pacific community.

Thank you.