In a recent interview, Zhang Xiaoqin, vice governor of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, said that Guangxi as an important node in the “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road" was the only region in China which not only borders ASEAN countries but also has seaways. Guangxi will make full use of China-ASEAN Expo and adhere to the rules of land and sea lanes and the connection of the interior and exterior, in order to build Guangxi as a new portal and hub of the “Maritime Silk Road”.

The 11th China-ASEAN Expo opened on September 16. Zhang explained that China-ASEAN Expo was co-organized especially for China-ASEAN Free Trade Area by China and the ten ASEAN countries as well as the ASEAN Secretariat. Currently, CAEXPO is turning from serving "10+1" countries to serving "10+6" countries, serving the “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road" and striving to improve its ability to serve more fields and regions.

In 2013, China put forward the concept of building the “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road" together with related countries. Zhang said that in order to build Guangxi as the new portal and hub of the "Maritime Silk Road", Guangxi would build a large interconnection and interworking track aimed at ASEAN countries and focus on the construction of “five networks” – namely port, highway, railway, aviation and communications optical fiber. In addition, Guangxi will build port-surrounding industrial belts along the “Maritime Silk Road” including Pan-Beibu Gulf industrial cluster, China-ASEAN maritime cooperation experimental zones, energy and resources cooperation base and agricultural cooperation bases.

Zhang also said that Guangxi would work to build a trade logistics base for the "Maritime Silk Road", which includes the construction of a China-ASEAN trade logistics distribution center, the joint building of a new platform for China-ASEAN trade and economic cooperation, the implementation of "E-Commerce of Guangxi" and " Silk Road of E-Commerce” project as well as the promotion of the ports opening and customs clearance facilitation.

China - ASEAN Expo has been successfully held for 10 sessions and has thus completed its "Golden Decade". Guangxi and ASEAN countries not only had fruitful achievements in economic and trade cooperation, interconnection and interworking infrastructure construction, but also had increasingly close cultural exchanges. Zhang said that, in the construction of the “21st-Century Maritime Silk Road", Guangxi would continue to work with ASEAN countries to build friendly urban agglomerations, build tourism circles, strengthening cooperation in the fields of science, education, culture, health and sports as well as in poverty reduction.

Edited by Brian Salter