Experts suggest accelerating Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN blue economic cooperation in multiple fields

China News Service, Sanya, November 7 (Reporter Wang Ziqian) "The opening of the Hainan Free Trade Port is not only at the trade level, but also connects China's maritime economy with the rich resources of ASEAN." At the 7th "Marine Cooperation and Governance Forum" being held here, Prida Yangsuk Sataporn, Director General of the Fish Marketing Organization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand, said that from the perspective of fishery alone, Hainan has the conditions to become a regional seafood processing logistics center, fishery resource management platform and technology innovation center.

Hainan is China's important opening-up gateway to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is also the forefront of building a maritime power and a natural hub for cooperation in the South China Sea. It is anchoring the goal of "strengthening towards the sea and rebuilding a 'maritime Hainan'" and accelerating the construction of a modern marine industry system with Hainan's characteristics and advantages.

During the special dialogue session on "Recreating the Strategic Role of 'Maritime Hainan': Building the Hainan Free Trade Port under the China-ASEAN Blue Economic Partnership" held at this forum, officials and scholars offered suggestions on how to strengthen blue economic cooperation between Hainan and ASEAN.

Currently, version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area is about to come into effect, and the "China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Action Plan (2026-2030)" proposes to encourage the establishment of a blue economic partnership. These benefits, combined with the benefits of the Hainan Free Trade Port's customs sealing operation, will promote a new pattern of regional maritime cooperation.

Chi Fulin, chief researcher of the Hainan Free Trade Port Research Institute, believes that Hainan's accelerated transformation into a strong maritime province will provide new cooperation space for building China-ASEAN blue economic partnership and form a "blue support" to create an important open door. He proposed that Hainan should form a driving force for the doubling of the scale of the marine economy in strengthening blue economic cooperation with ASEAN, build it into an important intersection of China and ASEAN's large marine consumption markets, achieve new breakthroughs in unilateral opening up to ASEAN's marine economy, and create a headquarters base and service support base for maritime-related enterprises to "go global".

"We are most concerned about several things when contacting our ASEAN counterparts. How can we sell fish and agricultural products better and have higher added value? How to implement the transformation of green and clean energy? How to make up for the shortcomings in marine disaster observation and early warning?" Li Dongyu, director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Oceanography, said that these three things are precisely the areas with the greatest potential for cooperation between the Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN countries. He introduced that Hainan will take the lead in sea-related fields, give full play to the value-added processing and tariff-free policy to stimulate the deep processing industry of seafood, and at the same time promote the joint construction and sharing of marine disaster early warning and prevention capabilities.

Rao Zhaobin, director of the Institute of China Research at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, is concerned about the newly opened Pinglu Canal. He believes that Hainan should seize the historic window of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and link up with inland hinterlands such as Guangxi to jointly open up new space for maritime economic cooperation with ASEAN. At the same time, we will strengthen the integration process with the Greater Bay Area and work together to promote a new pattern of opening up to ASEAN.

From the perspective of agricultural products, Jan Suksata Bonn suggested that in order to better leverage Hainan’s unique role in regional blue economic cooperation, both parties should strengthen the connectivity of logistics and cold chain infrastructure, improve information transparency, and create a digital traceability platform.

Habi Zakwan, a researcher at the Indonesian Center for Strategic and International Studies, believes that Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN blue economic cooperation can play an exemplary role in the construction of special economic zones (free trade zones), local development, and environmental management and protection. He specifically reminded that both sides should effectively enhance ASEAN enterprises’ awareness of Hainan Free Trade Port policies, laws and regulations through various methods. (over)