Joint effort urged to meet challenges facing Asia-Pacific

Blocks to trade, investment and technology need to be removed, says Xi. Mo Jingxi reports

- Mo Jingxi reports

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed building an open and interconnected paradigm for Asia-Pacific cooperation, with efforts to advance regional economic integration and "tear down the walls" impeding the flow of trade, investment, technology and services.

Addressing the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, Xi called on Asia-Pacific countries to act in solidarity and cooperation to meet the challenges facing Asia-Pacific cooperation, such as rising tendencies of geopolitics, unilateralism and protectionism.

"At this historic crossroads, we Asia-Pacific countries carry greater responsibilities on our shoulders," he said in the speech.

Xi announced that China will host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in 2026, marking the third time—after 2001 and 2014—that China will host the gathering since APEC's founding in 1989.

The Chinese president's proposal is an active move to steer the world economy back onto the correct track of globalization, and it is also a commitment by the world's second-largest economy to further opening-up and common development for the world, particularly the Global South countries, experts said.

APEC, which consists of 21 members, accounts for approximately 38 percent of the world's population, 60 percent of its total GDP and 47 percent of its trade.