Xi: Join hands, strengthen links

President Xi Jinping has called on APEC member economies to champion open development, promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization and build an Asia-Pacific community, as he addressed the first session of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting on Friday.

Highlighting that the international landscape remains fluid and turbulent, with growing uncertainties and destabilizing factors facing the Asia-Pacific, Xi said, "The rougher the seas, the more we must pull together."

He reiterated that China will comprehensively deepen reform and pursue high-standard opening-up, creating new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific and the world through the latest achievements of Chinese modernization.

Xi has attended every APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting since 2013. He arrived in Gyeongju in the Republic of Korea on Thursday for this year's meeting and a state visit to the country.

At the meeting, Xi put forward a five-point proposal for the 21-member forum — the region's highest-level, most extensive and most influential economic cooperation mechanism — whose members together account for nearly 60 percent of global GDP and almost half of global trade.

To jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, Xi urged member economies to practice true multilateralism and strengthen the authority and effectiveness of the system with the World Trade Organization at its core.

He stressed the need to uphold the fundamental principles of most-favored-nation treatment and nondiscrimination, and to update international economic and trade rules to reflect the changing times, in order to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.

To build an open regional economic environment, Xi called for continued efforts to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepen fiscal and financial cooperation, and steadily advance regional economic integration.

Member economies should promote alignment and parallel progress between the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to inject fresh impetus into the development of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, he added.

To keep industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, Xi said economies must "join hands rather than part ways, and strengthen their links rather than sever them".

"We should vigorously expand our common interests and support the open development of supply chains," he said.

To advance the digital and green transformation of trade, Xi called for efforts to make digital technologies a strong catalyst for cross-border trade and to enhance practical cooperation in paperless trade, smart customs and other fields.

"We must remove various green barriers and expand cooperation in green industries, clean energy and green minerals," he said, noting that initiatives such as the Asia-Pacific Model E-Port Network and the Cooperation Network on Green Supply Chain, both launched by China under APEC, have become important platforms for regional cooperation in digital and green trade upgrades.

To promote universally beneficial and inclusive development, Xi stressed the importance of adhering to a people-centered approach, addressing development imbalances and fostering an economic globalization that is more inclusive, sustainable and beneficial to all peoples in the region.

"China is working with various parties to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and supports the modernization drive of more developing countries, which will help open up new space for global development," he said.

With the theme of "Building a Sustainable Tomorrow", the meeting was chaired by ROK President Lee Jae-myung.

In his opening address at the session, Lee also called for closer cooperation among APEC member economies to tackle shared challenges amid a shifting free trade order and rising global economic uncertainty.

"We all stand at a critical turning point as the international order undergoes rapid transformation," Lee said. "We may not always share the same positions as we pursue our own national interests, but we can stand together in pursuit of our common goal of shared prosperity."

Observers said Xi's remarks aimed to build consensus among Asia-Pacific economies and sent a clear signal that China will actively advance higher-level regional economic integration amid challenges to the multilateral trading system and the open world economy.

They added that his proposals embodied the concrete application of China's broader global initiatives, such as the Global Governance Initiative, within the framework of Asia-Pacific cooperation.

Xiang Haoyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said that amid rising protectionism, geopolitical tensions and attempts at "decoupling", the Asia-Pacific region, as the world's most dynamic economic engine, must strengthen solidarity to withstand external shocks and maintain its development momentum.

"Xi's remarks firmly opposed 'decoupling' and trade barriers, directly responding to current trends of supply chain restructuring and protectionism, and called for safeguarding the stability and smooth functioning of global industrial and supply chains," Xiang said.

He added that the remarks also reflected China's sense of responsibility as a major country, as it once again pledged to expand high-level opening-up and inject greater stability and momentum into the Asia-Pacific with concrete actions.

Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said Xi's five-point proposal echoed the Global Governance Initiative he presented at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in September.

"Amid mounting challenges to the multilateral trading system and the open world economy, Xi's remarks demonstrated China's unwavering commitment to opening-up, to supporting multilateralism, and to advancing the development of an open world economy," Cui said.

The remarks also conveyed China's sincere aspiration to work with other APEC member economies to advance regional cooperation and shared prosperity, he said.