First Senior Officials' Meeting of APEC China 2026 opens in Guangzhou

The opening session of the First Senior Officials' Meeting of APEC China 2026 was held in south China's Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, on Tuesday morning.

Themed "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together", the meeting focused on openness, innovation and cooperation, the three priorities of the APEC "China Year".

The meeting launched cooperation across all fields and mechanisms, and held in-depth discussions on specific areas, aiming to generate outcomes for the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Shenzhen City from Nov 18 to 19.

Additionally, about 300 activities will also be held throughout 2026, including senior officials' meetings and ministerial meetings.

The world has entered a period of "wrecking-ball politics", where sweeping destruction has become the order of the day, according to the Munich Security Report 2026 released in Berlin on Monday.

The report, titled "Under Destruction", aims to set the tone for the upcoming Munich Security Conference (MSC). The annual event is expected to gather nearly 50 heads of state and government, alongside hundreds of decision-makers and opinion leaders, later this week.

The current U.S. administration is seen as the most prominent actor promising to free itself from existing order constraints, which has placed the U.S.-led post-1945 international order now under destruction, according to the report.

In the report's foreword, MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger noted that the attention the conference is attracting this year is not only a reflection of the many conflicts and crises that dominate the global agenda, but also a result of the changing role of the United States in the international system.

The report observes that political forces favoring destruction over reform are gaining momentum across many Western societies, driven by disenchantment with the performance of democratic institutions and a loss of trust in political course corrections.

However, the report warns that it remains unclear whether such destruction will actually clear the ground for policies that increase security, prosperity and freedom. Instead, the world may see a shift toward transactional deals over principled cooperation, private interests over public good, and regional hegemons over universal norms.