Grasping the Trend of the Times and Strengthening Unity and Cooperation to Build a Maritime Community with a Shared Future

Keynote Speech by Assistant Foreign Minister Zhao Zhiyuan
At the Opening Ceremony of the Seventh Symposium
On Global Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance

Sanya, November 6, 2026

Your Excellencies Governor Liu Xiaoming,
Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono,
Minister Ahmed Shiyam,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to come to the beautiful city of Sanya of Hainan Province for the opening ceremony of the Seventh Symposium on Global Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance. On behalf of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, I would like to begin by extending warm congratulations to the successful opening of the forum. I also wish to express warm welcome to all the guests and representatives from different countries and international organizations, and heartfelt thanks to you for the care and support you have given to the forum over the years.

Last week, the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. A systematic plan was made at the plenum on persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, which provided a more robust guarantee for advancing Chinese modernization, and created new opportunities for deepening China’s mutually beneficial cooperation with countries across the world.

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, the oceans play a significant role for the survival and development of human society. They provide a breeding ground for life, connect the world, and promote development. The blue planet that humans inhabit is not divided into islands by the oceans, but connected by the oceans to form a community with a shared future, where people of all countries share a common stake. As a bond for global connectivity, a treasure house of world resources, and a stage for international cooperation, the oceans play a unique role in the course of economic globalization and world multipolarity. As we speak, the world is witnessing major changes unseen in a century, as well as anachronistic unilateral bullying and a widening governance deficit. The oceans offer broad development opportunities and cooperation prospects. At the same time, there also exist many risks, challenges and governance defects. The efforts to pursue peace, stability, development and protection of the oceans are facing severe challenges.

Improving ocean governance and strengthening maritime cooperation is an important endeavor that benefits both the present and the future generations. Amid the clash between the force of turbulence and transformation and the trend toward development and progress, shall we defend justice, or connive at power politics? Shall we pursue unity and collaboration, or descend into division and infighting? Shall we protect the environment, or exploit nature without restraint? Our decision will shape the global ocean landscape, and even have a bearing on the future of humanity.

Faced with the changes of the world, of the times, and of historical significance, President Xi Jinping put forth the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and the Global Governance Initiative, with a view to promoting prosperity with common development, preserving stability with universal security, building mutual trust through mutual learning among civilizations, and pursuing harmony through improved governance. These initiatives provide strategic guidance for building a community with a shared future for humanity, and set the direction for building a maritime community with a shared future. The international community should grasp the trend of the times, strengthen unity and cooperation, and jointly advance the sound development of global maritime endeavors.

First, we should defend fairness and justice, and build maritime civility and order. Historically, big powers long competed for maritime supremacy, engaged in rampant colonial expansion, and inflicted severe suffering on the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. To this day, a handful of countries remain obsessed with maritime power politics. They abuse their force, form blocs for confrontation, treat the oceans as their private domain and control of sea lanes as a geopolitical chess game, and thus undermine global peace and stability. The oceans are not a hunting ground for the strong to stake out claims, but a shared home of humanity. The international community must uphold the U.N.-centered international system and the international order underpinned by international law, build strategic mutual trust, oppose maritime hegemony, reject unilateralism and bloc politics, and work for a more just and equitable international maritime order.

Second, we should uphold universal benefit and win-win cooperation, and maintain close maritime partnerships. Oceans are of strategic importance to high-quality development. As global economic growth lacks momentum, and industrial and supply chains undergo readjustments, enhancing maritime economic cooperation and deepening maritime connectivity will offer a strong boost for reinvigorating the world economy. The international community should stay committed to the principle of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit, expand blue partnerships, promote practical cooperation in areas like port and shipping, marine fishery, and energy and resources, develop emerging maritime industries, reject wrong practices that undermine international trade and division of labor such as exclusive competition, decoupling and supply chains disruption, and promote people-centered and sustainable development of the maritime economy.

Third, we should champion unity and inclusiveness, and strengthen cooperation on maritime security. Maritime security forms an important part of global security. The international community should act on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and properly resolve maritime differences through dialogue and negotiation. The security and unimpeded flow of key global waterways bear on the stability of international trade, energy and financial systems, and should be effectively ensured. The sovereignty and security of coastal countries, the stable supply of energy and resources, and the safety of industrial and supply chains are critical to basic international order, and should be fully respected and safeguarded. Countries should also work together to combat piracy and other maritime crimes under the framework of international law, and prevent the recurrence of pirate activities in Somalia and other regions.

Fourth, we should share weal and woe, and preserve the well-being of the oceans. As global warming and sea level rise impact the living environment of humanity and Super El Niño exacerbates extreme weather events, the international community should pay more attention to the harmony between humans and the oceans, and deepen international cooperation on maritime climate response, disaster prevention and mitigation, ecological development, and pollution control. We should enhance developing countries’ say in global ocean governance, and make the ocean governance system more just and equitable.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

Over the years, China, as a responsible major maritime country, has been dedicated to global maritime cooperation and ocean governance. China is steadfast in following the U.N. Charter and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other international laws. While firmly upholding our sovereignty, security and development interests, we properly handle maritime differences through negotiation and consultation with neighboring countries, promote maritime delimitation, dialogue on maritime issues, and joint resource development, and have robustly safeguarded maritime peace, tranquility, rules and order. China has made positive contributions to the global maritime economy and technology by fully leveraging its industrial scale advantages in areas such as shipbuilding, port and shipping, marine engineering equipment, and offshore wind power, as well as its technological strengths in offshore oil and gas, submarine optical cable, and deep-sea exploration. The Fendouzhe full-ocean-depth manned submersible, which is capable of diving to a depth of 10,000 meters, is playing an active part in international scientific research cruise. The Mengxiang deep-ocean drilling vessel is helping scientists around the world realize the dream of drilling through the earth’s crust into its deep interior. China actively carries out dialogue and coordination with various countries on maritime security, and promotes the political settlement of international and regional maritime hotspot issues. We have sent 49 escort task forces to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast for routine escort missions, all for greater global maritime security. 

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development, which was rolled out this year, has set out top-level design and strategic plans on strengthening maritime development, utilization and protection, promoting the high-quality development of the maritime economy, and expanding mutually beneficial maritime cooperation. On the great journey of realizing the Chinese modernization, we will contribute more to the cause of global maritime development, and demonstrate even greater responsibility in improving the well-being of humanity. 

China will be a firm practitioner of global maritime cooperation. It boasts huge potential in maritime economy. We will work actively with other countries for synergy in maritime development strategies, for high-quality cooperation in building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and a Belt and Road international port association, for closer cooperation on shipbuilding, marine engineering equipment and submarine optical cable, for faster development of offshore oil and gas, minerals and new energy, and for sustainable development of fishery. These efforts will bring greater benefits to people around the world.

China will be a firm defender of global maritime order. We will enhance policy exchange and dialogue with major countries, neighboring Asia-Pacific countries and Global South countries, and work with them to deepen practical cooperation on defense, law enforcement, and search and rescue, promote and safeguard international shipping safety, build safe and open sea lanes for all, and discuss the ways of ensuring global maritime peace and stability.

China will be a firm contributor to global ocean governance. We will continue to fully and faithfully observe UNCLOS, promote the full and effective implementation of the BBNJ Agreement, and apply for the host of the BBNJ Secretariat in Xiamen. We stand ready to work with ASEAN countries to enhance mutual trust, dialogue and practical cooperation, jointly implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, accelerate the consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, actively advance fair and equitable regional ocean governance, and effectively uphold peace and stability of the South China Sea.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 
Friends,

The vast and mighty oceans hold infinite hope and possibility. Since the official launch of the island-wide special customs operations of the Free Trade Port nearly one year ago, Hainan, host of this year’s forum, has created new miracles through deeper reform and wider opening up. This is an epitome of the vigorous growth of China’s maritime economy and its higher-quality and more effective maritime cooperation with the world. Since its inception, the Symposium on Global Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance has focused on major topics, achieved transformation and innovation, and exerted increasingly important influence. Going forward, China will work with all countries to seek a mutually beneficial prospect through dialogue and cooperation, forge global synergy with firm actions, pursue progress through maritime development in the new era, and make the oceans a place of peace, friendship and cooperation. Together, let us contribute to the building of a maritime community with a shared future.

To conclude, I wish the Forum a full success and continued prosperity. Thank you.

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