APEC hosts China's evolving role in regional economic cooperation

详细摘要

People walk past an APEC-themed installation at Gangxia North Metro Station in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, Oct 25, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING -- As the city of…

BEIJING -- As the city of Shenzhen, located in South China's Guangdong province, prepares to welcome Asia-Pacific leaders for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting next week, China is set to host this gathering for the third time, marking another milestone in its decades-long engagement with regional economic cooperation.

Over the past 25 years, East China's Shanghai, Beijing in north China and now Shenzhen have served as host cities, tracing the country's evolving role from a participant learning to align with international trade rules to an important contributor to regional cooperation and an increasingly active pioneer of new areas of growth.

Looking back to 2001, when APEC leaders gathered in Shanghai, Asia was still recovering from the financial crisis of the late 1990s, and China was days away from joining the World Trade Organization.

The Shanghai Accord that emerged from the meeting reaffirmed the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment. APEC leaders at that time also welcomed China's WTO accession.

"At that time, China was still learning the rules of international trade and was preparing to become deeply integrated into the multilateral trading system centered on the WTO," said Lin Feng, an official of China's Ministry of Commerce.

Since joining APEC in 1991, China has actively aligned itself with international rules to fit into this multilateral trading system. By the time it first hosted APEC in Shanghai, China's average tariff rate had fallen from 39.5 percent to 15.3 percent, while its trade with other APEC economies had nearly tripled.

Following the Shanghai meeting, China continued to expand opening-up and embed itself deeper in regional industrial and supply chains. In 2010, it became the world's second-largest economy.

In 2014, China hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting for a second time, with the event held in Beijing. One of the key outcomes was the endorsement of the Beijing Roadmap for APEC's Contribution to the Realization of the Free…

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