The 2026 APEC Third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM3) has been held in Dalian, northeast China. It's the biggest and busiest SOM of the APEC "China Year," and the goal is straightforward: take stock of progress, push forward cooperation, and lay the groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen this November.

Chen Xu, chair of the 2026 APEC SOM, told CGTN's Zang Shijie that the "China Year" is built on a solid foundation – with an Asia-Pacific community as the overarching vision, and trade, connectivity, innovation and development as the four key pillars. "While economies may have different priorities," he said, "the shared goal of building that community and achieving shared prosperity remains the same for all members."