The East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress kicked off in the coastal city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province on Wednesday, with international experts and officials gathering to share knowledge and practices on marine development.
Themed "Blue Synergy for a Shared Future: One Sustainable and Resilient Ocean," the three-day event is hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources of China, the Xiamen Municipal People's Government and the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia(PEMSEA).
At the opening ceremony, China's Ministry of Natural Resources released the first National Ecological Protection and Restoration Bulletin, highlighting the environmental achievements that have been made in the country over the past 75 years.
One of the key topics at this year's EAS is the idea of the blue economy, which centers around the sustainable use of ocean resources to drive economic growth while preserving the marine ecosystem.
To boost trade and foster better conservation, nations and regions are actively exploring ways to partner with China on maritime projects. A representative from Antigua and Barbuda highlighted how China has helped in the Caribbean country's development through infrastructure development.
"The Chinese government has assisted us in building infrastructure projects within Antigua and Barbuda, to build ports and roads and that sort of thing, to help us in our national development, to facilitate trade. We already do some exports of food products to China, and we are hoping to expand greatly in that using the technology that we learn from these conferences and these relationships," said Athill Dean Jonas, former Minister of Social Transformation, Human Resource Development and Blue Economy of Antigua and Barbuda.
Participants also expressed their hope for advancing marine conservation efforts amid the challenges posed by climate change and other potentially harmful human activities.
An official from Tanzania's Zanzibar commended China's efforts in the sector.
"The blue economy is all about maritime trade and conservation. So I think the Chinese and Zanzibar government, they have to work together, especially in the conservation of our pristine small island in Zanzibar. I believe the Chinese have paved the way, so, we are in a position now to learn from the Chinese government and Chinese people on how they preserve their marine ecological system," said Hamad Bakar Hamad, Principal Secretary of Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries of Zanzibar.
The event, held every three years, will run till Friday.
East Asian Seas Congress looks to boost development of blue economy
East Asian Seas Congress looks to boost development of blue economy
China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.
The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.
Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.
Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.
"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.
They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.
"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.
Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts
