"The Asia-Pacific is our shared home."

"Let us not forget that we are a community with a common stake, and let us move toward closer regional economic integration. " Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech at the APEC CEO Dialogues on Thursday.

It was seven years ago in Bali at APEC Indonesia 2013 when President Xi first proposed strengthening the sense of community of common destiny.

Since then, Xi has unveiled a series of major initiatives to provide ideological guidance to promote a community of common destiny at different occasions.

Community of common destiny

The Asia-Pacific economies are interdependent on each other, with shared interests and common destiny.

We should strengthen the sense of community of common destiny, contribute to other's development with that of one's own, tap fully into our respective strengths through coordination and interconnection, pass on positive energy and achieve sound interactions and coordinated development among all economies.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 26th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' (APEC) CEO Summit and delivers a speech titled “Deepen Reform and Opening up and Work Together for a Better Asia Pacific " in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 17, 2013.

Asia-Pacific dream

We are duty-bound to create and fulfill the Asia-Pacific dream for our people. This dream is about acting in the spirit of the Asia-Pacific community and out of a sense of common future, following the trends of our times, namely, peace, development and mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as jointly working for the prosperity and progress of our region. It is about leading global development and making greater contributions to the well-being of mankind. It is about greater economic vibrancy, freer trade, a more convenient investment environment, better roads and closer people-to-people exchanges. And it is about ensuring greater security and prosperity for our people and giving our children a better environment in which to grow, work and live.

To promote regional economic integration and connectivity

APEC should play a leading and coordinating role in breaking various shackles and unleash a new round of greater openness, exchange and integration at a higher level, in more areas and involving deeper structural adjustment.

To achieve comprehensive connectivity in the Asia-Pacific

In short, to achieve comprehensive connectivity in the Asia-Pacific, we should bring together all member economies on both sides of the Pacific by connecting physical structures, rules and regulations, and hearts of people. We should eliminate bottlenecks in accessing affordable financing, strengthen public-private partnerships, and achieve interconnected development.

To jointly build cooperation platforms

Partnership means pitching in for common goals and big initiatives. We should build APEC into an institutional platform for promoting integration, a policy platform based on experience sharing, an open platform against trade protectionism, a development platform to intensify economic and technical cooperation and a platform for boosting connectivity.

To insist on innovative development

Efforts should also be made to expedite industrial upgrading so that science and technology innovation will bring about new products, management and business models, move Asia-Pacific economies up in the global supply chain and enable us to jointly build and benefit from a coordinated, open and inclusive global value chain.

Oppose protectionism

Resorting to old practices such as protectionism and unilateralism will not resolve problems. On the contrary, they can only add uncertainties to the global economy. Only openness and cooperation can bring more opportunities and create more space for development. This is a well proven historical fact. One who chooses to close his door will only cut himself off from the rest of the world and lose his direction.

To build FTAAP

Building a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which is aptly regarded by the business community as the APEC dream, is a strategic initiative critical for the long-term prosperity of the Asia-Pacific. We should firmly pursue the FTAAP as an institutional mechanism for ensuring an open economy in the Asia-Pacific. We must energize trade and investment to drive growth, make free trade arrangements more open and inclusive and uphold the multilateral trading regime.

To promote opening and cooperation

History has taught us that closed-door development will get nowhere, while open development is the only right choice. We need to remain true to APEC's founding purpose: advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, build an open economy, uphold and strengthen the multilateral trading regime, and help rebalance economic globalization.

BRI initiative to promote Asia-Pacific Cooperation

The Belt and Road Initiative calls for joint contribution and it has a clear focus, which is to promote infrastructure construction and connectivity, strengthen coordination on economic policies, enhance complementarity of development strategies and boost interconnected development to achieve common prosperity. This initiative is from China, but it belongs to the world. It is rooted in history, but it is oriented toward the future. It focuses on the Asian, European and African continents, but it is open to all partners. I am confident that the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative will create a broader and more dynamic platform for Asia-Pacific cooperation.

To Foster Partnership

APEC has fostered a partnership featuring mutual trust, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, something we all hold dear. As we Asia-Pacific countries vary in national conditions, differences among us are normal. What is important is for us to stay committed to the shared goal of common development, address differences through consultation and explore solutions to common challenges in the spirit of partnership.

To adhere to the development

We should focus on development to deliver more benefits to our peoples. More than anything else, we should strive to deliver better lives to our people. Every country is entitled to an equal right to development; and no one has the right or the power to stop people in developing countries from pursuing a better life. We should strengthen development cooperation and help developing countries eliminate poverty so that people in all countries will live better lives. This is what fairness is essentially about; it is also a moral responsibility of the international community.

(Posters produced by Huang Jingjing and Wang Yufeng. Source: Xinhua)