SANYA, China, Nov. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 3-4, 2022, the "2022 Ocean Cooperation and Governance Forum", co-organized by National Institute for South China Sea Studies, China, kicked off in Sanya, Hainan. China's maritime cooperation with ASEAN countries has evolved from the initial exploration in the 1990s to the present, with increasingly richer areas of cooperation and more diverse forms of cooperation. Addressing climate change, marine resource management and utilization, planning and establishment of marine parks/protected areas, marine disaster prevention and mitigation, and protection of endangered marine species are the important contents of the work of marine cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.

In this regard, China-ASEAN countries have been exploring and establishing various long-term cooperation mechanisms in recent years. For example, China has established the "China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation Fund" and "China-Indonesia Maritime Cooperation Fund" to actively support various maritime cooperation projects between China and ASEAN countries; China The establishment of the Joint Research and Development Center for Marine Science and Technology of ASEAN countries has provided an important platform for strengthening cooperation in marine-related science and technology innovation and talent training between the two sides.

In terms of practical cooperation, China and ASEAN countries have actively implemented the Leaders' Declaration on Coastal and Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea for the Next Decade (2017-2027) and cooperated in the "Marine Plastic Reduction Initiative", "Mangrove Protection Plan" and other marine ecological restoration projects. "They also actively participate in regional fisheries management organizations, implement "zero tolerance" for illegal fishing, and actively study joining the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.

For the forum's venue, Hainan is a typical island economy, the sea is an important carrier of Hainan's economic and social development. 2021, Hainan's gross marine economy reached 198.96 billion yuan, accounting for 30.7% of Hainan's GDP. Many believes that Hainan as the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" an important strategic pivot point, "deepen external contacts and cooperation, strengthen cooperation with Southeast Asian countries in the field of marine tourism, marine environmental protection, marine fisheries, marine search and rescue, is Hainan to explore a high level of opening up to the outside world, the construction of free trade The important content of the free trade port.