As host of the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, Beijing has successfully pushed a series of its initiatives forward as common goals for the member economies that will lead the bloc in the next decade.

More than 4,000 reporters from home and abroad were bombarded with big news on a daily basis during APEC week, which concluded on Tuesday.

The Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific is no longer an unreachable vision as the 21 member economies agreed on a roadmap to launch a two-year long collective-strategic study on the ambitious initiative.

An APEC Connectivity Blueprint 2015-2025 and a strategic blueprint to promote global value chain development and cooperation were also approved at the meeting.

China also announced investment of 40 billion US dollars to establish a Silk Road infrastructure fund to boost connectivity across Asia. It also announced the conclusion of substantive negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, a landmark move for regional integration.

The ice-breaking meeting between Chinese and Japanese leaders and Chinese leaders' talks with the US and Russian presidents were watched under the spotlight of the world media.

A statement on the bloc's 25th anniversary, the first commemorative statement since its birth in 1989, was endorsed by APEC leaders on Tuesday, reminding the public of how hard the regional bloc is promoting trade liberalization and facilitation since the collapse of the Cold War.
In a post-global financial crisis era, the statement is a guideline for the reshaping of the Asia-Pacific region, which is struggling in the face of slowing growth.

From the Bogor Goal in 1994 to a Beijing roadmap 20 years later, APEC has encouraged the free movement of goods, services, capital and technology and the reduction of trade barriers, making the Asia-Pacific region, which includes the world's top three economies, the engine of global economic growth.

This century is a global century, but one with the Asia-Pacific region as its strategic core and China has a central role to play in regional integration, said Charlse Morrison, president of the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii.

As global growth slows and the Asia-Pacific region maintains rapid growth, APEC should play a leading role, not just in regional affairs, but also in global affairs, he told Xinhua.

The Beijing meeting has seen China's rising glamour and its ease and ambitious in the participation of international affairs.

Among the over 100 initiatives proposed by APEC economies this year, more than half came from China and a lot of them were accepted by member economies at this meeting.

Thirteen years ago, when China hosted its first APEC meeting in Shanghai, it had just finished negotiations to join the World Trade Organization. Thirteen years later, China has become the second largest economy in the world.

From the APEC to the East Asia Summit, from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) "10+1" to "10+3" mechanisms, China has always been an active participant and contributor.

The Beijing meeting witnessed the charm of living in harmony while retaining diversity. The world is never a zero-sum game. Though each APEC member economy has different interests, they sit and talk and move forward toward common prosperity.

As an emerging power, China benefits from regional integration and is willing to undertake responsibilities to share its experiences and fruits of development with others to promote sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific region.