The Hainan Free Trade Port should position itself as a platform linking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' rich marine resources with China's vast consumer market, using its preferential policies to expand processing, logistics and trade in marine products, experts said at a two-day forum in Haikou, the capital of Hainan province.

The China (Hainan)-ASEAN 2026 Think Tank Forum, which opened on Wednesday, brought together scholars and business representatives to discuss how institutional opening-up and emerging marine industries could create new drivers for China-ASEAN cooperation on the blue, or maritime, economy.

China's marine economy exceeded 11 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion) in 2025, marking a 5.5 percent year-on-year increase and outpacing overall economic growth, according to the National Marine Data and Information Service. China is the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of aquatic products.

However, seafood accounts for only 0.6 percent of China-ASEAN bilateral trade, indicating significant potential for growth, according to the Hainan Institute for Free Trade Port Studies.

Wang Hongsen, head of the institute's research department, estimated that increasing the share by 1 percentage point could generate $10 billion in additional market activity.

There is also room to move up the value chain. In 2025, primary products accounted for 85 percent of ASEAN's seafood exports to China, compared with 15 percent for processed products, according to Wang. He attributed this imbalance partly to fragmented cooperation and differences in standards.

Participants said that Hainan could help bridge those gaps through improving processing, aligning standards and integrating logistics.

Peter T. C. Chang, a research associate at the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, described Hainan as "an absolutely critical" link between the two markets, citing policies that allow eligible products with at least 30 percent value added in Hainan to enter the Chinese mainland tariff-free.

"Hainan FTP is a strategic opening — it's an opening door," Chang said.

Suthiphand Chirathivat, chairman of the board at Thailand's Central Group and professor emeritus of economics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, said Hainan's geographic proximity makes it ASEAN's gateway to China's domestic market, with complementarity in the blue economy.

He pointed to Yangpu Port in Hainan, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the newly launched Pinglu Canal in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region as infrastructure that will strengthen Hainan's role.

"Hainan can become the platform for ASEAN marine products to be processed, and marine industry R&D, finance and logistics," he said.

Zhang Jianping, a senior research fellow and vice-chairman of the Academic Committee at the Ministry of Commerce's Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that both Hainan and Guangxi occupy hub positions on the New Western Land-Sea Corridor. He expressed hope that the opening of the Pinglu Canal will secure infrastructure, transportation and logistics links between the Hainan Free Trade Port and ASEAN, thereby facilitating the flow of goods, people and services.

Chi Fulin, president of the Hainan Institute for Free Trade Port Studies, noted that Hainan's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) set a target of doubling its marine economy by 2035 — a goal he said matters less for its scale than for elevating Hainan's strategic role in China's opening-up. He said that the island province should serve as a bridge connecting Chinese and ASEAN enterprises, helping ASEAN companies access the wider mainland market.

Siswanto Rusdi, director of Indonesia's National Maritime Institute (Namarin), suggested that Hainan and Indonesia's Natuna islands develop a shipping corridor that is closer than the distance between Hainan and either Jakarta or Bali.

The forum took place as China and ASEAN mark five years of comprehensive strategic partnership. Priority areas identified by participants include cruise and coastal tourism with joint international routes and visa facilitation, deep processing of fisheries products and marine energy.

chenbowen@chinadaily.com.cn