A consensus on jointly promoting the prosperity and development of the Asia-Pacific region was unveiled at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum, which opened on Saturday in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.
More than 400 representatives from over 40 countries and regions, as well as from UN agencies and international organizations, attended the event.
Also on Saturday, an exhibition of scientific and technological innovation achievements was held on the sidelines of the forum, providing a platform for Asia-Pacific media to deepen exchanges and cooperation in applying sci-tech innovations.
More than 30 companies from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area showcased their latest high-tech products at the exhibition that featured four main sections: intelligent media technology, embodied AI, smart cities, and smart living.
"Actually, this is my first time ever to China and I've read it in news. But then to come here and see it in person, that was quite amazing," said Manoj Karki, executive editor of RSS Nepal.
"You get media here and share what's going on here. It's a good thing. We've always heard about the technology, the innovation happening, and now you get to see it firsthand, and it's a good thing," said Donovan Martin, CEO and editor-in-chief of Canada's Daily Scrum News.
China will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen in November this year, which will mark the country's third time hosting the event following Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014.
This year marks the APEC "China Year," with the theme of "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together." Approximately 300 APEC-related meetings and events will take place in multiple Chinese cities throughout the year.
Asia-Pacific Media Forum unveils consensus on shared prosperity
The International Deep Space Exploration (Tiandu) Conference run from Thurday from Friday in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, where Chinese commercial space companies laid out their plans for expanding lunar activity.
At the event, firms presented lunar ambitions ranging from rovers and robotics to rockets and visions for long-term human stays, marking what Wu Weiren, director of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory and a Chinese academician, called "the age of commercial lunar exploration" in his opening keynote speech.
Among the active players, Galactic Energy celebrated the successful maiden flight of its medium-lift liquid rocket PALLAS-1 on Tuesday and is now preparing the larger PALLAS-2 for potential lunar and deep-space missions. Xia Dongkun, the company's executive president, said the goal is to access rare earth elements and other resources on the Moon and asteroids, which are far more abundant than on Earth.
Guangzhou-based CAS Space also shared footage of its Kinastra-1 upper stage, which is set to carry out the company's first lunar mission. The stage is expected to place a satellite into a trans-lunar transfer trajectory in the first quarter of 2027.
"Building on the successful maiden-flight verification, we will focus on advancing a three-step plan for deep-space applications -- helping unlock the trillion-yuan value of the space economy," said Zhu Qinglin, deputy chief designer of the Kinastra-1 upper stage.
Beyond technology demonstrations, the conference was aimed to lay the groundwork for sustainable and inclusive deep space exploration. Organizers announced that the China-led Cislunar CubeSat Constellation (C3) Program will be open to scientists and institutions worldwide, giving developing countries opportunities to participate in deep-space missions.
"It gets busier. We have more actors. It's more accessible in that sense, which is a good thing. But it's maybe for the first time in human history that we are trying to get to the moon with some mechanism already in place -- these principles for everyone's benefit and go there. With those principles very well understood, so that it can be, in a way or another, sustainable for the future," said Ulpia-Elena Botezatu, co-chair of UN-COPUOS Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation.
Chinese commercial space companies aim high for expanding lunar activity at Hefei conference
