On 13 September 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network Work Conference and delivered a speech.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping said that China and most ASEAN countries enjoy long coastlines, and have unique advantages in port cities’ cooperation. Establishing the China-ASEAN Port Cities?Cooperation Network is an important initiative proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, which is of great significance to promoting ASEAN-China maritime connectivity and co-building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Currently, the Network has been progressing steadily and has achieved positive outcomes. Consensus has been reached on the planning documents including “Vision and Actions on China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network” and “Cooperation Approaches?for China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network”. The China Secretariat of the Cooperation Network has been established. With Qinzhou city as the base, serving facilities for the Cooperation Network have been built including water training base, marine meteorological monitoring and early warning center, and maritime search and rescue sub-center. China-ASEAN port cities’ exchanges have been intensified and expanded with improved networks.

Secretary-General Yang made four suggestions: First, fully implement existing plans to produce more tangible results. Second, focus on development strategies’ coordination to achieve all-round connectivity in this region. Third, make good use of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Silk Road Fund, and ASEAN-China Maritime Cooperation Fund, to provide financial support for the Cooperation Network building. Fourth, further strengthen the publicity work, to let the public from different sectors of ASEAN and China know more about the work and achievements of the Cooperation Network.

Secretary-General Yang said that Guangxi, connected with ASEAN by land and sea, enjoys unique geographical advantage in ASEAN-China cooperation. In recent years, Guangxi has combined its own economic and social development with the opening-up policy and fully leveraged its strengths in location, industry, resources and culture to make positive contribution to the development of ASEAN-China relations. With the building of the Belt and Road, Guangxi is working to build itself into an important gateway connecting the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt. She believed that Guangxi will play an even bigger role in the practical cooperation between ASEAN and China in the future.

Prior to the Conference, Mr. Zhang Xiaoqin, Vice Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous had a brief meeting with the speakers of this meeting. He briefed on the work and achievement of Guangxi-ASEAN port cooperation, and expressed his confidence that by holding similar acclivities, China-ASEAN and Guangxi-ASEAN practical cooperation will continue to step up to new heights.