All member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) are fully prepared to actively participate in the 2026 APEC "China Year" to elevate cooperation to a new level, Chen Xu, chair of the 2026 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM), said in a recent interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Chen said that China will host approximately 300 related activities throughout the year to promote pragmatic cooperation within the framework of APEC and preparing for the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.
"At the informal senior officials' meeting in December 2025, APEC members endorsed the theme and priority areas proposed by China, with 'Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together ' as the theme and openness, innovation, and cooperation as the priority areas. APEC members share the same view that this approach is aligned with the development of the world and the Asia-Pacific region, and meets the development needs of all members. Members are all ready to actively participate in the APEC 'China Year' so as to take cooperation to a new level," he said.
China will hold three SOMs in 2026, with the first now running in Guangzhou from Feb 1 to 10.
Shanghai will host the second SOM meetings in May, followed by Dalian, which will host the third meeting in August, Chen said.
Chen said that from May to October this year, ten thematic ministerial meetings will be organized by relevant Chinese authorities in places including Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Macao.
These meetings will cover a wide range of fields such as energy, transportation, the digital economy, food security, human resources, trade, finance, tourism, small and medium-sized enterprises, and women's affairs, Chen said.
APEC members fully prepared to participate in 2026 APEC "China Year": official
Axis powers during World War II should offer sincere reflection and apology, a Greek mayor said after Greece successfully repatriated a rare collection of 262 World War II-era photographs.
Greek officials traveled to Belgium to negotiate with the seller and brought the photographs back to Greece, after they were put up for sale online by a Belgian collector, said the Greek Culture Ministry.
The images were taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Heuer, who served in Greece from 1943 to 1944, during World War II, and part of the collection documents the mass execution of Greek communists by Nazi troops in Kaisariani, east of Athens.
During World War II, German occupation in Greece met with fierce resistance. On May 1, 1944, German forces executed 200 Greeks at the Kaisariani firing range in retaliation for the killing of a German general by resistance fighters.
A memorial and a museum were set up after the war in Kaisariani to commemorate those who died in the mass execution.
"The photos really shocked us all because they were real documents from the day of the execution. We are shocked for many reasons. An important reason is that the 200 communists were singing with their heads held high before the execution in the photos, and they were not mourning because they were fighters," said Ilias Stamelos, mayor of Kaisariani.
The newly recovered photographs have drawn renewed attention to the historical trauma still felt in the community, as the images provide a direct visual record of the final moments of those executed.
In 1987, then German President Richard von Weizsaecker visited Greece and made a special stop in Kaisariani, reflecting on the profound suffering inflicted on the Greek people by Germany during World War II.
Ilias said that, like Germany, Japan, another Axis power during the war, should also be held accountable for the massive harm it caused to multiple countries and should offer sincere reflection and apology for its wartime aggression.
"And I think it's a common demand, because those responsible for the deaths in the World War II need to pay for what happened. It's known to all that back then it was Germany, Japan and Italy, the allies in this war, that each played different roles in the war, yet they do have common responsibilities," said the mayor.
Historic photos of Nazi mass execution of Greeks returned to Greece, mayor calls for historical accountability
