Maritime Silk Road Brings New Opportunities to China, ASEAN

In Dongxing, a small city on the China-Vietnam land border, Wang learned that he could apply for a travel permit to Vietnam by presenting his ID card, without a passport.

The family decided to give it a go. In less than 2 hours, Wang's family received their permits and they signed up for a two-day tour to Vietnam.

Latest figures from the local government showed that more than 50,000 people have traveled to Vietnam via Dongxing like Wang since August. Dongxing is under the jurisdiction of Fangchenggang.

Besides land routes, currently, there are two sea routes linking Guangxi and Vietnam. They start from the scenic beach cities of Beihai and Fangchenggang respectively and both end at the Vietnamese world heritage site Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.

Frequent tourism exchanges between Guangxi and Vietnam is just part of a bigger picture of a boom in tourist trips between China and ASEAN countries.

Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia are among the top ten tourist destinations for Chinese travelers, while Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia rank among the top 15 tourist sources for China, according to figures from China National Tourism Administration.

Chen Wu, chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said at the forum that China and ASEAN could consider visa exemptions to further boost marine tourism and cross-border trips.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

The much-anticipated maritime Silk Road calls for closer collaboration among members along the route. Yet, hurdles remain with unsolved funding as well as trade and investment barriers.

Territorial disputes over the South China Sea cast doubts over prospects of the initiative.

Qu Xing, director of China Institute of International Studies, said there are two approaches to address disputes. "One is no cooperation, or less cooperation. The other is expanding cooperation exactly because disagreements exist," he said.

With the first approach, disagreement will feature increasingly prominent in the bilateral relations, said Qu. However, with the second approach of increasing cooperation, the share of disagreements will decrease in bilateral ties, and this will create better conditions for the settlement of disputes.

Qu said regional forums like the PBG are important mechanisms to enhance understanding and advance regional cooperation.

As to funding, Fan Gang, director of the National Economic Research Institute at the China Reform Foundation, called for more favorable conditions for private investors to participate in the construction of the maritime Silk Road.

Zhang Junkuo, deputy head of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said it is important to properly handle the relationship between government and businesses.

The government's role is to provide a good platform and businesses need to make good use of their resources and strength, said Zhang, adding that private participation is crucial to regional development.

Source: Xinhua