At this year’s APEC CEO conference in Da Nang, Vietnam, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the APEC business leaders that a more open and integrated Asia-Pacific region (APR) that pursues inclusive, balanced, and equitable development would benefit all. President Xi in his speech also elaborated five new "journeys' that China is going to take, noting that China’s development in the next 15 years will bring more tangible benefits for all the people across the region, not just China.

This is President Xi’s fifth trip to the APEC conference, and his first international event after the successful conclusion of the historic 19th Party Congress, which adopted the concept of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” as an official part of CPC ideology.

The past five years have seen President Xi’s continued commitment to an open and integrated APR and determination that China’s steady and sustainable development should shape the course of the APR and help fulfill the region’s great potential with more tangible benefits.

Making his debut at APEC in October 2013, President Xi announced the “21st century maritime silk road” initiative in Jakarta, Indonesia. Together with another initiative of “the economic belt of silk road” he proposed in Kazakhstan, President Xi presented a vision as the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)” in the belief that a more open and more integrated Asia-Pacific region would benefit all the people in the region. The launching of BRI has since served as an overarching framework of China to boost interconnectivity and free trade between China and the rest of the world for common development through win-win cooperation.

President Xi served as the host for APEC conference in 2014. At the Beijing conference, he called upon leaders in the region to take up the responsibility to help people in the region to fulfill the dream of building a “community of shared future.” A roadmap to build the free trade area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and a ten-year plan for connectivity in APR were adopted,  highlighting China’s commitment to shape the regional integration agenda and take the lead in grasping opportunities and meeting challenges.

At the 2015 and 2016 APEC conference, President Xi continued to work with other leaders in the region to promote a more peaceful environment for the APR to focus on development. The launching of the BRI, by President Xi, is going to create new drivers of common development and build a more dynamic platform for APR cooperation by opening China wider to the outside world.

President Xi’s speech at this year’s APEC conference not only highlighted China’s commitment to improving the multilateral trade system and pursuing shared growth through win-win cooperation, but also served as a statement that China’s growth would boost APR as a whole to achieve its goals. China is now a main driver of global growth, President Xi said. Over the past four years, President Xi noted, China’s economy has grown by 7.2% on average annually, contributing more than 30% of global growth. In the next 15 years, the President continued, it is estimated that China will import 24 trillion US dollars worth of goods and attract and make 2 trillion US dollars worth of investments. President Xi noted that China’s development presents great opportunities for APR and that China welcomes countries in the region to take advantage of China’s growth.

It’s clear that the past five years of President Xi Jinping’s speeches serve as testimony that while China has remained committed to a more open, integrated, and prosperous APR, China is increasingly ready and willing to work together with all the countries in the region to achieve a more inclusive, more balanced, more equitable development in APR. 

(The author is vice president of China Institute of International Studies. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.)