According to a Kyodo News report filed from Beijing on September 5, citing multiple diplomatic sources, China — as host of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit — is coordinating a plan to hold the APEC Joint Ministerial Meeting of Foreign and Trade Ministers, originally set to take place in Shenzhen in November, via videoconference rather than in person as has traditionally been done. The report stresses that, as of publication, the plan remained at the "coordination" stage and had not been formally confirmed by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the APEC Secretariat; Beijing had not commented publicly.

It is important to clarify that the reported shift to an online format does not concern the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting itself, the 33rd edition of which is scheduled for November 18-19 in Shenzhen, but rather the Joint Ministerial Meeting of Foreign and Trade Ministers, which is traditionally held in person in the days immediately preceding the leaders' meeting so that foreign ministers from each member economy can attend in the same city. At the 2025 APEC meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, for instance, Japan sent Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa in person. Kyodo's sources said holding such a ministerial meeting online would be unusual outside the COVID-19 pandemic period.

According to the report, the reason China gave for considering an online format was the practical difficulty of gathering all member economies' foreign ministers in person within the limited window before the leaders' meeting. In other words, the explanation attributed to Chinese officials centered on scheduling logistics rather than any stated security or political consideration.

Notably, some circulating summary accounts have framed this story as "part of the summit's schedule being changed to online, causing displeasure in China, with Beijing believing this could weaken the summit's effectiveness and raising concerns with other member economies." That framing does not match the direction of the verifiable Kyodo reporting. Based on sourcing that could be verified, it is not Beijing that expressed displeasure — rather, diplomatic sources from other APEC member economies told Kyodo they were troubled by a decision to change the meeting's format without sufficient prior consultation. In short, the side expressing dissatisfaction appears to be the other member economies informed of the shift to an online format without adequate prior consultation, not the host, China, which is the one proposing the change. We note this correction here to avoid readers being misled in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, no public reporting indicates any change to the arrangements for the Leaders' Meeting itself, which remains APEC's central annual event. Shenzhen authorities have confirmed that the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held November 18-19, with the APEC CEO Summit held alongside around November 17-18, organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. This year's APEC theme has been set as "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together." In other words, based on verifiable reporting so far, any "partial shift to a virtual format" would be confined to the ministerial track, not the leaders' summit itself.

In broader context, this marks the third time China has hosted APEC, following Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014, and the first time the host city has been Shenzhen — as well as China's first time hosting in twelve years. Chinese President Xi Jinping formally announced on November 1, 2025, at the close of the APEC meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, that Shenzhen would host the 2026 APEC meeting.

Reports indicate that, besides Shenzhen, China has hosted a series of APEC meetings in multiple cities this year, forming a complete preparatory chain leading up to the November summit. The first Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM1) was held in Guangzhou in February, with an address by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi; the second (SOM2) was held in Shanghai; and the third (SOM3) was held in Dalian, Liaoning, in August, focused on practical cooperation in areas such as anti-corruption, oceans and fisheries, food security, health, and energy. The APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting was held in Suzhou, Jiangsu, on May 22-23, issuing the 2026 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Joint Statement. A digital and AI ministerial was held in Chengdu on July 23. The APEC Ministerial Meeting on Forestry was held at the Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center on July 27-28, hosting representatives from 21 economies and 7 international organizations — the first formal use of Shenzhen's main APEC venue. An SME ministerial was held in Guangzhou on September 4, and a human resources development ministerial was scheduled for September 21 in Nanjing. Separately, Hong Kong has been reported to host an APEC finance ministers' meeting for the first time. Together, these meetings spread across multiple Chinese cities make up China's overall diplomatic calendar as host this year, with the November 18-19 leaders' meeting in Shenzhen as the culmination, and the foreign and trade ministers' joint meeting originally the final link in that chain leading into the leaders' meeting.

As host city, Shenzhen has in recent months carried out a series of preparations, including tightening rules on electric scooters, designating no-smoking zones in some public areas, and stepping up urban management. In August, Shenzhen's metro system briefly trialed stricter security-screening rules, which led to longer queues at some stations and public complaints on social media, before some stations restored "bag-free fast lanes." Observers generally interpreted these measures as advance rehearsals for APEC security arrangements. Separately, as host, China has also had to address concerns from some member economies during preparations — for example, over whether Taiwan's delegation would be able to attend smoothly; Beijing has previously made arrangements regarding the name and format under which the Taiwan delegation would participate, in order to address some members' concerns. These issues are a separate matter from the reported shift of the ministerial meeting to an online format, but together they reflect that this year's APEC preparations have drawn noticeably more external attention than in past years.

As of this writing, we were unable to verify any formal statement or confirmation from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, or the APEC Secretariat regarding a shift of the Joint Ministerial Meeting of Foreign and Trade Ministers to an online format. Kyodo's report explicitly described the plan as being "coordinated" rather than "finalized." With the November meeting dates approaching, whether the parties will reach and publicly announce a final decision on the meeting's format remains to be seen.

Should the ministerial meeting ultimately be confirmed as moving online, it would be a rare instance of a non-pandemic-era online APEC ministerial meeting, and could be seen as reflecting the practical challenges China faces as host in balancing the goal of bringing senior officials from across the region together with the scheduling and consultation needs of individual member economies. Whatever the outcome, this report is a reminder that, against a backdrop of structural factors such as US-China competition and tensions across the Taiwan Strait, the preparatory process for APEC — an important multilateral economic dialogue platform for the Asia-Pacific — can itself serve as a window into regional diplomatic dynamics.

For Shenzhen and the broader Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, this APEC meeting is widely seen as an important opportunity to further expand opening-up and showcase the region's image as a global technology and trade hub. Whether the foreign and trade ministers' joint meeting is ultimately shifted online, and whether all parties can reach consensus on the meeting format before the November summit, will also serve as a concrete case study of how China, as host, balances its domestic preparation timeline against member economies' consultation needs. As the arrangement remains at the coordination stage, this outlet will continue to monitor further updates from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the APEC Secretariat, and Kyodo News, and will update this report promptly as the situation becomes clearer.