Connectivity is an important guarantee for promoting the development and progress of human society, and it is also an essential part of promoting the construction of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future.

If there is no pain, there will be no pain. President Xi Jinping once used traditional Chinese medicine theory to describe the importance of improving connectivity among APEC members. Over the years, China has been committed to strengthening all-round connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region, promoting the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of all parties, and creating a source of power for creating an open Asia-Pacific economic structure featuring development innovation, growth linkage, and interest integration.

Provide new opportunities for regional countries

“To achieve all-round connectivity in the Asia-Pacific, we need to connect all members on both sides of the Pacific with the path under our feet, the path of rules, and the path of our hearts. To break through the bottleneck of expensive and difficult financing, we need to strengthen the construction of public-private partnerships and achieve interconnected development.” In 2014, APEC’s second The 12th Informal Leaders' Meeting was held on the banks of Yanqi Lake in Beijing. President Xi Jinping described the prospects for Asia-Pacific connectivity. The landmark document "APEC Connectivity Blueprint (2015-2025)" adopted at the meeting charted a clear route for regional connectivity cooperation.

Over the years, the Asia-Pacific region has continuously promoted the implementation of this important blueprint, accelerated the improvement of infrastructure construction, smoothed the safe and orderly flow of people, goods, funds, and data, and committed to building an all-round, multi-level, and composite Asia-Pacific interconnection network, and achieved a series of positive results.

It is important to draw up a blueprint and implement it. As an active advocate and promoter of connectivity and interconnected development in the Asia-Pacific, China has taken pragmatic actions to participate more deeply in the regional cooperation process. Adhere to the high-level implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, actively align the high-standard economic and trade rules of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economic Partnership Agreement, and promote the continuous upgrading of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area... A series of measures fully demonstrate China's sincerity and determination to promote global connectivity and build an open world economy.

The development goals and paths of the economies in APEC are not entirely consistent, but promoting connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region is a common aspiration. Carlos Aquino, director of the Center for Asian Studies at the National University of San Marcos in Peru, said that China has actively promoted the construction of regional economic cooperation mechanisms and advocated concepts such as connectivity, mutual benefit and win-win, and open cooperation. It has become increasingly popular and has provided new opportunities for regional economies in areas such as infrastructure construction, green transformation, and the digital economy.

Open up the "main artery" of regional development

Last year, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the 31st APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting, proposing three suggestions: building an open and inclusive Asia-Pacific cooperation pattern, cultivating green and innovative Asia-Pacific growth momentum, and establishing an inclusive and inclusive Asia-Pacific development concept, leading the Asia-Pacific region to further consolidate the synergy to promote regional economic integration and connectivity.

In the office of Malaysian Transport Minister Loke Siew Hock, there is a model of a Chinese high-speed rail train. "The high-quality Belt and Road project jointly built by Malaysia and China has not only greatly boosted Malaysia's economic development, but also promoted regional connectivity." He said that China cooperates with developing countries to speed up infrastructure construction, provide development opportunities for co-building countries, and help achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

China actively participates in and promotes the Asia-Pacific cooperation process, and is also committed to promoting the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of all parties. It not only unblocks the blood vessels for regional economic development, but also builds a broader platform for Asia-Pacific connectivity construction. The railway cooperation mechanism between China and Vietnam was officially launched this year. The two sides will achieve comprehensive standard gauge railway connectivity and further expand the big picture of regional interconnection. The premium cold chain route from Kuantan Port in Malaysia to Beibu Gulf Port in China has been officially opened, making the two-way flow of goods between China and Malaysia more convenient. In Chile, Highway 5 operated by a Chinese enterprise passes through the main cherry production area in Chile, becoming a "sweet road" connecting trade between the two countries.

Actively carry out policy coordination, rule docking and mechanism innovation to break down regional cooperation barriers and make the rule-based road to interconnection increasingly smooth and efficient: truck drivers entering the country at the Pingxiang Friendship Checkpoint on the China-Vietnam border only need to "pre-register, independently collect, and quickly verify" to clear customs quickly, and the average inspection time for a single vehicle does not exceed 15 seconds; through the "One Port Connect" supervision model of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Based on the Asia-Pacific Demonstration Electronic Port Network Coordination Mechanism, the Shanghai International Trade "Single Window" optimizes the data customs clearance process through end-to-end compliance links with various economies, and explores and builds cross-border customs clearance compliance channels based on trade, logistics, trade accompanying documents and customs clearance data.

Actively promote people-to-people exchanges and people-to-people and cultural exchanges, tighten the spiritual ties between people in the Asia-Pacific region, and make the path of people-to-people connectivity more solid and lasting. China has comprehensively relaxed and optimized its visa-free policy and launched a series of policies and measures to facilitate foreigners coming to China. In the first half of the year, 13.64 million foreigners entered China without a visa, a year-on-year increase of 53.9%. The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations has been held, Chinese cultural centers have been established in Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, and activities such as the Chinese Film Festival and Happy Spring Festival have been held, laying a solid public foundation for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Activate new momentum for industry and supply chain cooperation

“We must follow economic laws, adhere to market principles, promote the free flow of production factors, maintain the production and supply system of goods and services, and create a convenient, efficient, and safe Asia-Pacific industrial chain and supply chain.” “We must adhere to open regionalism, strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, and build a closer regional industrial chain and supply chain. "We must maintain the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization as its core, promote the construction of an open world economic system, and maintain the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains." On the APEC stage, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly discussed the important role of global industrial and supply chains in ensuring the healthy development of the world economy.

In the era of economic globalization, only by adhering to open cooperation in the global industrial and supply chains can win-win development be achieved. The Asia-Pacific interconnection network provides a solid guarantee for the stable and efficient operation of regional industrial and supply chains. China places its own development in the overall situation of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, is committed to building a high-level opening system, and continues to contribute its strength to maintaining the stability and smoothness of the Asia-Pacific industrial and supply chains.

In the first three quarters of this year, China's total import and export value of goods trade reached 33.61 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%; 48,921 new foreign-invested enterprises were established across the country, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%. China is an important participant in Asia-Pacific regional cooperation and economic integration. It is also a major trading partner of many Asia-Pacific economies and an important node in the regional industrial and supply chains. Expanding high-level opening up to the outside world will bring strong "attraction" to foreign trade and "pull power" to foreign investment, and promote the construction of an open and inclusive Asia-Pacific industrial chain and supply chain.

In July this year, the third Chain Expo was held in Beijing. The proportion of overseas exhibitors increased from 32% in the previous session to 35%. A large number of well-known multinational companies appeared on the stage of the Chain Expo for the first time, and more than 170 overseas groups came to visit the exhibition... The "circle of friends" of the Chain Expo continues to expand, and the "international scope" is stronger and more adequate, highlighting the common aspirations of business people from all over the world to maintain the stability of the industrial and supply chains. By actively building international cooperation platforms such as the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair, the Service Trade Fair, the Consumer Expo, and the Chain Expo, China has promoted the "supply chain" to become a "win-win chain" for international cooperation.

Cai Weicai, a business development expert at Kasikornbank in Thailand, said that China is deeply involved in global industrial division of labor and cooperation, tightening economic and trade ties with other countries, and forming a virtuous cycle of high-tech investment, research and development, and industrialization. "In an international economic and trade environment full of uncertainties, China's policy of continuing to expand high-level opening up to the outside world is encouraging. It will bring broader market opportunities, investment opportunities, and growth opportunities to all countries, and better achieve common development and mutual achievements with other countries."

"Facing the uncertainty of the current world, China's stable development means confidence and opportunities." Huang Zhenlong, chairman of the Malaysian Silk Road Friends Club, said that whether it is driving regional exports through imports, or promoting infrastructure interconnection, green energy transformation, and coordinated development of industrial chains with an open attitude, China has become a key force in promoting global sustainable development.

From outlining a blueprint for all-round connectivity to maintaining the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains, China's ideas and actions are weaving a connectivity network across the Pacific, turning the vast Pacific into a thoroughfare for regional prosperity and development. In the future, China will continue to uphold the concept of open cooperation, unswervingly promote high-level opening up, actively carry out cooperation on Asia-Pacific connectivity projects, and inject continuous impetus into the economic recovery and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific. (Reporter Ma Fei)

"People's Daily" (page 7, October 28, 2025)