Jointly shaping a new landscape of Asia-Pacific cooperation! Peking University Shenzhen Forum 2026 held

On March 28, the Peking University HSBC Business School-initiated Peking University Shenzhen Forum 2026 was held in Shenzhen. This year marks the launch of the “15th Five-Year Plan period” (15th Five-Year Plan), and the 33rd Informal Meeting of APEC Leaders will be held in Shenzhen in November. APEC and Shenzhen have also become the focus topics of this forum.

Ha Wen, Vice Chair of the Peking University University Affairs Committee (former vice president) and founding dean of the HSBC Business School, hosted the forum. He said that the “original intention” behind APEC’s establishment is to defend free and open trade and investment, accelerate the process of regional economic integration, and promote the building of a sound and sustainable business environment. In today’s international environment marked by turmoil, instability, and ongoing conflicts, it is especially important to uphold this “original intention.”

Yi Xiaozhun, former Deputy Director-General of the WTO, former Ambassador of China to the WTO, and former Deputy Minister of Commerce, pointed out in his keynote speech titled “Global Trade Governance and APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Integration” that China’s accession to the WTO is of major significance. China should firmly grasp the right direction of WTO reform, respond rationally to the impact of the trade war launched by the United States on global economic governance, and play a positive role in WTO reform. He suggested that China should seize the important opportunity presented by the 33rd Informal Meeting of APEC Leaders being held in Shenzhen, firmly grasp the overall direction of APEC’s trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, demonstrate China’s resolve for opening up through a package of market-opening initiatives and negotiations on high-standard rules, seek common ground while reserving differences in the negotiations of outcome documents, and showcase China’s vitality as well as the spirit of self-reliance and scientific and technological innovation of China’s private economy through Shenzhen, the most striking business card of China’s economy.

Zheng Yongnian, President of the School of Public Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Director of the Qianhai Institute of International Affairs, and Chairman of the Board of the Guangzhou Bay Area Research Institute, emphasized in his keynote speech that, against a backdrop full of uncertainty, China needs to better grasp certainty, firmly advance high-level opening-up, seize the opportunity of hosting the APEC summit in Shenzhen, and break through obstacles through Chinese-style modernization that is more open and inclusive. He also said that by relying on high-quality productive capacity, China should coordinate and balance global development demands from both the Global North and the Global South, continue to build momentum and work steadily over the long term, and promote the realization of common modernization across countries.

Hu Yongtai, Vice President for the Asia-Pacific region of the United Nations “Sustainable Development Solutions Network” (SDSN) and Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Davis, analyzed in his keynote speech China’s economic data from recent years, noting that by eliminating soft budget constraints and advancing supply-side structural reforms, China can improve total factor productivity from negative to positive, thereby enhancing economic resilience to cope with shocks brought about by the reconfiguration of the global order. He said that in the context of the accelerated breakdown of the U.S.-led global order, China should promote medium-sized countries to form the Atlantic-Pacific Sustainable Development Partnership (APSP) in order to strengthen the UN system and push the UN to become a new global governance framework.