Marine SEZs: Push to a greater blue economy

LIU SHUGUANG of the Ocean University of China reviews Beijing’s marine economic strategy in the wake of spate of approvals for marine economic development zones in Shandong, Zhejiang and Guangdong this year and explores their potential impact on neighboring countries, especially the littoral states of the regional seas.

In an RSIS commentary, “China’s Marine Economy: Opportunities for International Co-operation?”, he states that Beijing’s marine economy initiatives were an important part of its strategic reorientation to reduce export dependence and China’s stimulus package for its manufacturing sector and increasing inter-provincial competition accelerated the development of these marine zones centred around the Shandong peninsula to leverage China-Korea free trade agreement, Zhoushan archipelago in Zhejiang province and Guangdong to leverage the China-ASEAN free trade agreement.
He calls for a revamp of China’s traditional model characterised by extensive utilization of resources and spaces, FDI for land reclamation and irrational competition among provinces in favor of a shift to a blue economy based on management and conservation of marine resources and greater international co-operation for effective marine economic strategies.

Bandung 55 comes to age!!

SHYAM SARAN, fellow at the Center for Policy Research and former Indian Foreign Secretary, calls upon India to make relations with Indonesia, a G-20 power and neighbor, the centrepiece of its Look East policy pointing to commonalities such as plural, diverse, secular democratic polity, cultural affinities buffeted by religious extremism. In an article in Business Standard, "Rising Indonesia", he states that it was incumbent upon India to upgrade its economic and security partnership with Indonesia beyond the current joint maritime patrols to grow naval capabilities and shape an open, inclusive and loosely structured security architecture in Asia.