Xi's speech at APEC summit injects new momentum into building Asia-Pacific community with shared future

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit via video, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Beijing, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit via video has strengthened aspirations for win-win cooperation and the building of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, foreign experts and scholars have said.

China will remain firm in advancing reform and opening-up in order to add impetus to economic development in the region, and advance a green transition on all fronts and make its due contribution to boosting ecological conservation in the Asia-Pacific and beyond, Xi said.

The country will also stay committed to promoting win-win cooperation and contribute to the region's economic development, he added.

Peter Drysdale, head of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research and East Asia Forum at Australian National University, said that the commitments are welcome and will help "build the confidence and certainty in reform and opening up and green transformation going forward."

"As the world today is more integrated, interconnected and interdependent, the consequences of the Cold War will be much more severe than they were in the past," said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

Every country, Lee said, should continuously respect and defend the rules-based international system to preserve peace and stability.

"Working together, let us all be promoters of and contributors to the unity and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific family," Xi said in his speech.

Pui Jeng Leong, a media veteran in Brunei, said that peace and development are the common aspirations of people all over the world, while confrontation and conflicts are not.

China has always upheld the common interests of the world, practiced true multilateralism, and advocated the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, he pointed out.

China has also continuously promoted green development and put forward its own plan to address climate change, playing its role as a major responsible country and making important contribution to global sustainable development, he added.

Oleg Timofeyev, associate professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, said that Xi's remarks that "Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era" was timely and of great significance.

Timofeyev said that the Asia-Pacific region today should make every effort to prevent the region from being plagued by a Cold War mentality.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to the realization of the United Nation's goals for sustainable development by 2030, and China will play an important role in the global economic recovery in the post-epidemic era, he added.