China to prioritize high-quality development of marine economy

China will further promote high-quality development of the marine economy after the latest annual Central Economic Work Conference, held Wednesday to Thursday in Beijing, identified it as a key focus for the country's 2026 economic agenda.

In recent years, China's marine economy has completed a pivotal transition from pursuing sheer scale expansion to emphasizing both quality and efficiency, with new productive forces now rapidly taking shape across the various industries of the marine sector and turning the sector into a driving force for the country's high-quality development.

"In 2024, China's gross ocean product exceeded the 10-trillion-yuan (1.4-trillion-U.S. dollar) mark for the first time ever. In the first three quarters of this year, the gross ocean product reached 7.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percent, maintaining a stable and positive growth trend. The marine economy has become an important force in stabilizing national economic growth. This is a key reason why the Central Economic Work Conference emphasized efforts to 'promote high-quality development of the marine economy,'" said Shen Jun, director of the Marine Strategy Planning and Economy Department of China's Ministry of Natural Resources.

According to the plans set at the meeting, China will continue to strengthen the foundation for high-quality marine economic development through innovation-driven initiatives and industrial upgrading.

We are going to advance the development of innovation platforms in the marine sector in a coordinated manner, plan and implement a number of major exclusive scientific and technological projects, and step up efforts to achieve breakthroughs in the development of key core technologies. We'll strengthen efforts to foster and expand emerging strategic industries in the marine sector, including seawater desalination and comprehensive utilization, marine biomedicine and biological manufacturing, as well as marine energy utilization, to accelerate the establishment of a modern marine industry system," Shen said.

China to prioritize high-quality development of marine economy

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region saw a year-on-year growth of 10 percent in trade with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from January to November this year, according to Nanning Customs.

In the first 11 months of 2025, Guangxi's imports and exports with ASEAN members reached 384.22 billion yuan (about 54.46 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 52.9 percent of the provincial-level region's total foreign trade during this period, said the authority.

Among them, Vietnam remained Guangxi's largest trading partner in the ASEAN region, with trade growing by 7.1 percent. The growth rates with Indonesia and Singapore were also remarkable, standing at 51.7 percent and 62.7 percent respectively.

During the same period, Guangxi imported and exported a total of 726.54 billion yuan worth of goods, increasing by 9.5 percent year on year, the customs data showed.

South China's Guangxi sees 10-pct growth in trade with ASEAN in Jan-Nov period