The salon featured two Filipino guests: Mr. Rommel C. Banlaoi, chairman of the Advisory Board of the China Studies Center, School of International Relations, New Era University, and Madame Anna Rosario Malindog Uy, vice president of external affairs and deputy director of Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI). A renowned professor of international relations, policy researcher, and public intellectual in Philippines, Mr. Banlaoi won the Albani Peace Prize Award for Education. Due to his outstanding contribution, he was also among the initial winners of the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding. Madame Anna is a senior research fellow of South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) and the president of Techperformance Corp. She also served as a consultant in Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other local and international NGOs as well as enterprises. The Chinese guests included Professor Ji Xianbai, executive director of the Research Center of International Politics and Economics, the School of International Relations, RUC, Mr. Wang Bing, associate research fellow of international mining industry, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), and Mr. Zhao Wei, committee member of Hainan Free Trade Port Economic and Cultural Forum on Maritime Tourism. The salon was moderated by Dr. Qu Qiang.

Mr. Banlaoi argued that China and Philippines are important partners of each other with major common interests and value in maritime environment research, joint management of fishing industry, disaster search and rescue, combat against cross-border crimes, etc. In particular, the Senate of Filipino Congress officially approved of the approval letter for RCEP this February, which marked a milestone of deepening reginal cooperation and optimizing global supply chain. Through dialogues and agreements, China and Philippines will continue to have exchanges, thus benefiting bilateral practical cooperation and driving China-Philippines relations toward a stable and sustainable future.

Madame Anna also agreed that China and Philippines are willing to have friendly negotiations and deepen their good neighborliness. She highlighted that generations of national leaders from both countries forged a strong friendship and that China-Philippines relations has been progressing with the nurture of those leaders. In recent years, the two countries have been cooperating more in economic and trade investment, with China being Philippines’s largest trading partner, largest export market, largest source of import, second largest source of foreign investment, and second largest source of tourists. The golden age between the two countries has just begun, and Filipino people have high expectations that the future China-Philippines relations will be even more vibrant and stable.

During the discussion session, guests from both countries had in-depth discussions on China and Philippines’s cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, energy, education, economy and trade, and environment. The Belt and Road Initiative and green, low-carbon development were also among the topics.

        At the end of the salon, Mr. Zhao Wei stated that Hainan Economic and Cultural Forum on Maritime Tourism, together with its superior authority, will continue to keep a close eye on China and ASEAN, especially on their economic and trade cooperation. Mr. Zhao noted that hopefully with the forum as a platform, more series of such thematic exchange events would be held, so that the friendly economic and trade relations between China and ASEAN countries, especially that with Philippines, would see continuous progress.