The sea breeze in November sounded the clarion call for Asia-Pacific to gather in Shenzhen. When the spotlight of APEC in 2026 shines on this city of innovation, an Asia-Pacific agreement about "openness, innovation, and cooperation" is about to begin. This is not only the "highlight moment" for Pengcheng, but also the "home moment" for countless overseas tourists to return home to help.
On the two-way channel of "bringing in" and "going out", a special group of "ferrymen" have already set sail - using overseas Chinese as a bridge, they send Shenzhen's high-tech to the sea and embrace the world's resources.
Li Jinxian, president of the Shenzhen General Chamber of Commerce of Malaysia, was one of the first people to take action. During APEC, he will lead a delegation of Malaysian entrepreneurs to visit Shenzhen and promote young entrepreneurs to participate in APEC youth exchange projects. This "ferryman", whose ancestral home is in Dapeng, Shenzhen, specifically chose the 38th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in 2018 to establish the General Chamber of Commerce. Over the past eight years, he has adhered to the principle of "focusing on quality over quantity" and built the chamber of commerce into a "super contact" for economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Shenzhen and Malaysia.
While in Kuala Lumpur, the Chamber of Commerce helps Shenzhen enterprises connect investment access and promotes multiple cooperations in the Malaysia-China International Industrial Park, new energy, education and other fields; at the same time, it introduces Malaysia's Chinese business network, ASEAN channels and young talents back to Shenzhen. Li Jinxian said that the roots of overseas Chinese are in China, and "our responsibility is to continue this root."
Looking from Southeast Asia to the southern hemisphere, the Shenzhen overseas Chinese group in Australia is also making the same "two-way interface." In Sydney, Zhu Berson, president of the Australian Shenzhen Federation of Societies, organizes companies to visit Shenzhen all year round to bring cooperation needs in the fields of medicine, new energy and education to Shenzhen. The Federation's Youth Student Federation, Overseas Chamber of Commerce, and Health Industry Promotion Association each perform their own duties, not only helping Shenzhen brands go overseas, but also helping Australian resources to land.
Also in Australia, Wu Yue, president of the Shenzhen Friendship Association and General Chamber of Commerce of Western Australia, has set his sights on Perth - from facilitating Shenzhen enterprises to sign strategic agreements with Western Australia, to hosting the Western Australia division of the Shenzhen Mass Entrepreneurship Competition, to promoting the "Perth-Shenzhen Sister City Plan", he is more concerned about bringing "Made in Western Australia" to the Greater China market. Looking back at the newspaper run in 2018 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Chinese coming to Australia to trace the roots, and then looking forward to the upcoming Australia-New Zealand Shenzhen Economic and Trade Expo, they are actually two sides of the same thing: allowing historical recognition to grow new branches of industrial cooperation.
Across the wider Pacific Ocean, the "Land of the Long White Cloud" in the South Pacific also beats the pulse of Shenzhen. Zhang Yun, President of the New Zealand Federation of Shenzhen Associations, has been committed to building bridges for exchanges between China and New Zealand since immigrating in 2002. Driven by Zhang Yun, the federation has five affiliated associations. It not only organizes New Zealand companies to participate in the China International Import Expo and the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Fair, but also provides market research and legal consultation to companies from both countries. It also relies on Shenzhen's scientific and technological advantages to actively promote cooperation in artificial intelligence, biomedicine and other fields, and continuously holds "Pengcheng Business Forum" in New Zealand universities. In addition, Zhang Yun also mobilized the Chinese community in New Zealand to raise donations for the Henan floods. He said: "Being overseas, we are not only the inheritors of Chinese civilization, but also a bridge for exchanges between China and New Zealand."
On this end of the bridge is Pengcheng, on the other end is Qiaoxin. Liu Haitao, chairman of the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Charity Foundation, summed up this connection as "love for overseas Chinese" and "love for overseas Chinese" - Shenzhen hands out care and overseas Chinese bring love back. In recent years, the foundation has continued to carry out root-seeking winter camps, overseas Chinese forests and other projects. In Liu Haitao's view, overseas Chinese people understand both sides and can "translate" between culture, commerce, and cultural tourism, making cooperation less estranged and more trustworthy.
This trust also requires a wider communication interface. Liao Yuxuan, vice chairman of the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Federation and executive vice president of the Hong Kong Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations, believes that APEC is placed in Shenzhen and is a common scene for Chinese people around the world; overseas Chinese groups in various places can use live broadcasts, people-to-people exchanges and other methods to tell the true face of China's development to the people living in the country. The linkage between Shenzhen and Hong Kong will allow Hong Kong’s international network and Shenzhen’s technological innovation expertise to complement each other.
From matchmaking meetings in Kuala Lumpur to recruitment malls in Sydney, from projects in Perth to forums in Auckland, to laboratories in Shenzhen Bay, overseas Chinese leaders never just cross over with containers and contracts. They packaged foreign rules, connections and trust, crossed mountains and seas, and built an irremovable "overseas Chinese" bridge between Shenzhen and the world. The mountains and seas are not far away because they are walking together; the future is already here because it is open and boundless.
