China News Service, Beijing, November 11 (Reporter Zhang Su, Li Jingze) On November 18, local time, the 11th APEC Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting was held in San Francisco, USA. On the occasion of the 17th meeting of APEC leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to jointly build the next "golden <> years" of the Asia-Pacific region.
"What kind of Asia-Pacific is going to be brought to mid-century? How to build the next 'golden 30 years' of Asia-Pacific development? How can APEC play its role better in this process? Xi Jinping confronted the problem head-on in his important speech at the meeting.
Looking back, it is precisely in response to the questions of the world, history, and times that "where is humanity heading" since the end of the Cold War, that the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region have gathered together. As the highest-level, broadest-ranging and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC's important role in maintaining prosperity and stability in the region is self-evident.
Interviewed scholars pointed out that the APEC, which has passed its "year of establishment," is becoming more mature and perfect, but this organization, which is supposed to focus on economic and trade cooperation, has recently been "kidnapped" by issues other than economy and trade, and deviated from its correct track. China's leadership emphasized staying true to its original aspirations, uniting and cooperating, and working together to promote high-quality growth in the Asia-Pacific region, which is a clear answer to the question of the new era of Asia-Pacific development.
"Against the backdrop of accelerated changes in the world over the past century, the Asia-Pacific region, as the engine of global economic growth, should shoulder greater responsibilities of the times. This makes it all the more necessary for APEC to uphold its original aspiration, defend free and open trade and investment, accelerate the process of regional economic integration, and inject stability and positive energy into a turbulent world. Lan Jianxue, director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said.
Facing the next "golden 30 years" in the Asia-Pacific region, Xi Jinping put forward four suggestions this time, namely, adhere to innovation-driven, open-oriented, green development, and inclusive sharing. Some commentators believe that the "four insistences" are not only the key way to solve the problem, but also will make the "golden 30 years" more successful.
"Innovation is the driving force of Asia-Pacific growth, openness is the background color of Asia-Pacific development, green not only represents the future trend of economic development, but also shows the direction of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, and inclusive means that cooperation will be more sustainable." Xu Liping, a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Taking innovation-driven as an example, China stressed the need to "work together to create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development", and proposed measures to accelerate the implementation of the APEC Roadmap on the Internet and Digital Economy and support the application of new technologies, so as to shape new drivers and advantages for the development of the Asia-Pacific region.
From the perspective of Asia-Pacific development experience, "openness leads to prosperity, and closure leads to decline". Based on reality, China reiterated its "opposition to politicization, weaponization and pan-security of economic and trade issues", and stressed the need to unswervingly promote regional economic integration, accelerate the process of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, and share opportunities for regional opening up and development.
Lan Jianxue said that China has put forward cooperation proposals based on the concepts of innovation, openness, green, and inclusiveness, which are in line with China's implementation of the new development concept, promotion of high-quality development, and high-level opening-up. By proposing the forward-looking and strategic "Four Insistences", China's leaders have charted the course for Asia-Pacific cooperation.
While expounding on the concept, Xi Jinping focused on China's actions to other APEC leaders: from putting forward APEC initiatives such as digital village construction and enterprise digital identity to empower the development of the Asia-Pacific region, to the recent successful holding of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, injecting new impetus into promoting global connectivity and building an open world economy; From adhering to the high-level implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to taking the initiative to align with the high-standard economic and trade rules of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement; From actively and steadily promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality, to putting forward APEC cooperation initiatives such as green agriculture and marine pollution prevention and control...
"China is not only 'talking', but also 'doing'. The ideas put forward by the Chinese side are often based on practice and are therefore more instructive. Xu Liping noted that in this speech, the Chinese leader emphasized his determination to strengthen follow-up actions, such as proposing to "continue to support APEC in economic and technical cooperation and jointly expand the Asia-Pacific development cake", which truly demonstrated a responsible attitude and responsibility as a major country.
In the eyes of the outside world, as a key force driving the growth of the Asia-Pacific region and the world, China will play a more important role in Asia-Pacific cooperation in the future. On the one hand, China's economy is resilient, has sufficient potential, and has wide room for maneuver, and is providing opportunities for promoting the modernization of other countries through Chinese-style modernization. On the other hand, the goals of APEC are highly consistent with China's concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which has been written into the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040.
"I am willing to work with all colleagues to promote more fruitful results in Asia-Pacific cooperation and jointly build the next 'golden 30 years' for the Asia-Pacific region." Xi Jinping's remarks at the end of the speech resonated widely.
"When some countries are engaged in 'decoupling and breaking chains', China, as the largest developing country, actively demonstrates its sincerity for cooperation and wins universal respect from the international community." Xu Liping said.
Lan Jianxue said that adhering to the original intention, China will join hands with all parties to start the next "golden 30 years", and a better tomorrow for the Asia-Pacific region is more promising. (ENDS)