About 80 percent of global natural disasters occur in the Asia-Pacific, therefore humanitarian aid and disaster relief is always a hot issue. The chaos in the search efforts to find missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 demonstrates how badly an overarching multinational coordination center is needed in the region. The forum also has a special session on the ASEAN community building. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has announced that it will establish such a community by the end of the year. Given the obvious political differences and economic disparities among the ASEAN member states, people may wonder how such a Cinderella-like change is going to realize the declared goals of economic and political security and socio-cultural integration. China is ASEAN's largest trading partner. It supports ASEAN's central role in the regional security architecture. How can both sides make sure the South China Sea issue does not dominate their relations, as they have agreed?
Security of sea lanes and a code of conduct in cyberspace are also on the table. Security of sea lanes is intrinsically associated with freedom of navigation, a fundamental principle in international law. As a major maritime trading nation, China firmly supports freedom of navigation. But China doesn't believe that the United States' military surveillance and reconnaissance in China's exclusive economic zone is freedom of navigation. Nor does China believe, as the US has claimed, that its land reclamation in the South China Sea interferes with freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, the two countries agreed during Xi's visit to Washington that neither country's government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property. This is a major step forward from pointing fingers at each other. What next? A discussion on a code of conduct among all stakeholders could not be more appropriate or needed. The fact is, so far, no official rules have been formulated to guide international cybersecurity policy.
Mid-October is most beautiful in Beijing. The maple leaves start to turn red in Xiangshan Mountain and the yellow gingko leaves add a warm hue to the tree-lined streets. The atmosphere cannot be more agreeable for a forum.
Welcome to Beijing.
The author is an honorary fellow with Center of China-American Defense Relations at the Academy of Military Science.