On 9 April 2018, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road: Islands Economic Cooperation” session during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018.

The session was themed “A New Era of Cooperation: Inclusive Development of Island Economies”. Attended the event were Mr. Shen Xiaoming, Governor of Hainan Province, Mr. Chen Xiaodong, Assistant Minister of Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mr. Chi Fulin, President of China Institute for Reform and Development, Mr. Vira Rojpojchanarat, Minister of Culture of Thailand as well as Mr. Jose Chaves Alvarez, Governor of Palawan Province of the Philippines.

Governor Shen Xiaoming said in his remarks that during the past 30 years since its establishment, Hainan province has been upholding the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, which led to fast economic development and turned Hainan into a modernized special economic zone. As an island province, Hainan is ready to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with island economies along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and to meet challenges together. In this regard, he put forward five suggestions, namely to promote connectivity, facilitate industrial cooperation, enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges, jointly tackle such global challenges as climate change and provide intelligent support to the inclusive development of island economies.

Assistant Minister Chen Xiaodong pointed out that globalization has driven population and industries to move even faster toward coastal areas, and maritime economy has gained strong development momentum which leads maritime economy to become an important engine for global economic growth. Island economies are born and prospered by oceans. The Belt and Road Initiative provides new and important opportunities for island economies to integrate themselves into global economy and to expand their outward exchanges and cooperation. Assistant Minister Chen shared four points on the inclusive development of island economies: connectivity is premise; the flow of production factors is the driving force; industrial cultivation is the foundation; and people’s well-being is the purpose.

Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said that Thailand was an important stop along the ancient Maritime Silk Road. Benefited from the cultural exchanges and mutual learning with other countries along the route, Thailand has become a country with cultural prosperity where many traits of other cultures can be found. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by China possesses rich connotation and will further promote the connectivity between Thailand and other countries along the route. It will also accelerate trade and economic exchanges and cultural communications. Thailand is ready to enhance cooperation with all sides to achieve mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Governor Jose Chaves Alvarez and other participants also held warm discussions on such topics as the common features of the development of island economies, strengths and challenges of island economies, economic environment integration of Pan-South China Sea area and how to realize win-win development.