The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) released two flagship reports detailing the latest Asian economic development trends on Tuesday as its annual conference officially got underway in south China's island province of Hainan.
The BFA Annual Conference 2026 is held from March 24 to 27, marking the forum's 25th anniversary. Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentation and technological transformation, the event is widely expected to provide forward-looking insights and "Boao solutions" for a world in search of certainty.
Under the theme "Shaping the Future Together: New Trends, New Opportunities and New Cooperation," this year's conference will focus on four key areas and host nearly 50 events, including sub-forums, roundtables and dialogue sessions.
The event kicked off with a press conference on Tuesday morning which introduced the schedule and topics for the annual meeting.
Journalists in attendance also received copies of two flagship BFA reports, one focusing on Asia's economic outlook and another themed on "sustainable development."
The former report, titled "Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress", indicated that Asian economies remain the primary engine of world economic growth, with their share of global GDP expected to rise from 49.2 percent in 2025 to 49.7 percent in 2026. It also highlighted how China and the ASEAN region continue to stand out as regional "anchors of stability."
The second report, which was titled "Sustainable Development in Asia amid Global Transformation", noted that Asia is leading the global energy transition, with the region accounting for some 70 percent of annual new clean energy capacity installations worldwide.
The opening day of the annual Boao conference will see multiple sub-forums and special release events covering key topics such as China's economic outlook, regional organizational cooperation, and global free trade ports.
BFA Annual Conference releases reports on Asian economic outlook, sustainable development
BFA Annual Conference releases reports on Asian economic outlook, sustainable development
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
