While it is the APEC economic leaders' meetings that grab the headlines, it is the work beforehand that prepares for these high-stake gatherings.

That is why the first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Senior Officials' Meeting and related events, hosted by China in Guangzhou from Sunday to Feb 10, deserve more attention than they are likely to receive.

The meetings in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, mark the opening act of the APEC "China Year" and the first official step toward the 2026 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, to be held in neighboring Shenzhen in November.

Over 50 meetings of about 1,000 participants will discuss issues spanning trade, finance, digital rules, the green transition, supply chains and people-to-people exchanges. APEC is arguably one of the most practical platforms for regional economic cooperation in the world, and these preliminary gatherings function like workshops where agreements are hammered out and consensus is built.

The theme China has put on the table as the host — "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together" — is pertinent to the region's pressing needs. Beijing has paired it with three operational priorities — openness, innovation and cooperation — which have been the hallmarks of the region's dynamism, but are now under immense strain.

Although the Asia-Pacific remains one of the most dynamic engines of the global economy, it is navigating the rough seas of sluggish global growth, rising protectionism, fragmented supply chains, widening development gaps, accelerating climate and energy pressures, as well as the technological shock wave of artificial intelligence and the governance deficit.

China's message in Guangzhou is clear: multilateralism and openness should prevail over unilateralism and protectionism. To that end, regional economies should focus on making the cake bigger rather than striving for the largest share of it.

Over the past decades, average tariffs across APEC economies have fallen dramatically, and the region has been a major beneficiary of open trade. Yet today, trade barriers are creeping back. With 2026 marking the 20th anniversary of the vision of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, China is urging APEC members to recommit to a World Trade Organization-centered multilateral trading system, deeper regional integration and stronger connectivity. The logic is simple: supply chains work best when they are linked, not weaponized. The regional economies should realize that no one can realize its own prosperity at the cost of others, or ensure its own "security" by making others "insecure".

Innovation is the engine of future growth that regional economies can collaboratively foster. The Asia-Pacific is home to many of the world's most vibrant innovation hubs, but the benefits of digitalization and AI are unevenly distributed. China's proposal is not just to race ahead, but to widen the track: promote safe and orderly data flows, deepen cooperation on open-source technologies and bridge the digital and AI divide. Its idea of a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization reflects this. The proposal treats AI not as a geopolitical trophy, but as a global public good that needs shared rules, standards and literacy.

The hosting of the APEC meetings in the heart of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is both symbolic and substantive. Now a global innovation hub, it embodies what happens when openness meets pragmatism and a pioneering spirit. China is signaling that it wants to share that experience with regional economies to promote sustainable common prosperity.

Cooperation is where APEC's comparative advantage is evident. APEC operates through practical mechanisms: economic and technical cooperation, capacity building and sector-specific initiatives. China is encouraging the APEC member economies to continually use these tools to turn diversity into complementarity — whether in food security, energy, small and medium-sized enterprises, transportation, healthcare or human resources — so that no economy is left behind.

Green development cuts across all of the three priorities where the APEC economies have broad common interests. China has built a large renewable energy system and has become a major supplier of new energy technologies. By funding APEC initiatives on digitalization for green transitions and supporting free flows of green technologies, the country is trying to align climate actions with growth, not pit them against each other.

The Asia-Pacific is at a critical juncture. The broader choice facing the region is stark: solidarity and cooperation, or unilateralism and protectionism. History has shown which path works. Over the past more than 30 years, APEC has proved the rationality of openness and shared benefits. Abandoning that now would undo all the past efforts and be self-defeating.

The Guangzhou meetings are down-to-earth preparations for not only the November gathering but also a more coordinated, cooperative and open APEC. They are about forging consensus within the region that striding together is possible — and worth the effort of overcoming differences.