On October 22, the Press Briefing for the Inaugural Symposium on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance took place in Beijing. Dr. Wu Shicun, President of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), announced the inauguration of the upcoming event to be held on 5-6 November in Haikou, and introduced its background and concept.  

The Press Briefing for the Inaugural Symposium on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance

Dr. Wu pointed out that today, the international community is faced with more global and regional maritime challenges than at any other time in human history. Ocean problems such as the sea level rise caused by global warming, overfishing, marine plastic pollution, ocean acidification, oil spills at sea, and eutrophication come up one after another, posing challenges to human survival and development. However, the established global ocean governance system is facing an unprecedented crisis. Negative factors like deglobalization and unilateralism, Covid-19 pandemic and maritime disputes have added uncertainties and complexities to state-to-state and cross-regional cooperation on ocean governance.

NISCSS President Wu Shicun announced the inauguration of the upcoming event and introduced its background and concept. 

The symposium aims to build an institutionalized platform for thought-provoking dialogues to pool wisdom for enhancing maritime cooperation, and seek for potential solutions for better ocean governance at both global and regional level. It also seeks to raise the voice of the South China Sea coastal states in global governance and cooperation on ocean, offer South China Sea experience and solution to global ocean governance, restore the international confidence in global ocean governance and cooperation and align itself with the Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the United Nations (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), and makes its special contribution to sustainable development of oceans and seas.

The Press Briefing for the Inaugural Symposium on Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance

Media and embassy representatives asked questions in the Press Briefing.

The event will be co-organized by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), the China-Southeast Asia Research Center on the South China Sea (CSARC), Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS) and the China Institute of University of Alberta. By setting main venue in Haikou and opening online access, it is expected to bring together over 500 hundred of eminent scholars from influential academic institutes and officials from international organizations and government agencies in and beyond the region. The participants will hold discussion on such topics as “Global Ocean Governance and Regional Practices”, “Recent Development and Hotspot Issues in the South China Sea”, “Maritime Security Cooperation and Risk Management”, “Regional Order Construction in the South China Sea”, “Maritime Cooperation in and beyond Region: Current Practices and the Future”, “Frontier Research on Maritime Issues and Capacity Building for Ocean Governance”, and “New Ideas and Initiatives for Ocean Governance”.

The Press Briefing brought together journalists from 25 Chinese and overseas main stream media, as well as some 20 representatives from the embassies in Beijing of 9 countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, the U.S., India, Japan, Australia, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. During the Press Briefing, Dr. Wu also answered questions from the media in relation to the current situation in the South China Sea, the China-U.S. relations, and Indo-Pacific Strategy, etc.

Media and embassy representatives asked questions in the Press Briefing.