Regional think tank with ASEAN to be formed
31 October 2007
A transnational think-tank China proposed with ASEAN countries to focus on economic development in the Pan-Beibu Gulf zone will be formed soon, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). The Pan-Beibu Gulf is the coastal region in the northwest part of the South China Sea that
includes Hainan island and the Guangxi region in China as well as
Vietnam and Laos. Guangxi party chief Liu Qibao, who met with Laosian prime minister Bouasone Bouphavamh on Monday, said the strategy group is expected to be set up by the end of the year. Liu proposed the cooperation concept of "One Axis, Two Wings" last year, which refers to the "axis" of the Nanning-Singapore economic corridor and the two "wings" of economic cooperation in the Pan-Beibu Gulf and the Greater Mekong Subregion.