Plans for cooperation and directions for future development that were proposed at the just-concluded Boao Forum will have far-reaching consequences for the future development of Asian countries. This is the view expressed by Zhou Wenzhong, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia, in an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online.

The theme is Asia's future

Zhou explained the reasons to take the theme of the 2014 Boao Forum for Asia as “Asia's New Future”: Asia represents a large number of countries; among these countries, common interests and historical issues coexist. There are also other countries from other regions, such as the U.S., whose diplomacy is increasingly focusing on East Asia. The Asian situation is therefore becoming more complicated. “The new future should follow the common guiding principle of ‘building a community of shared interests, common destiny and shared responsibilities.”

High-level guests and Celebrity effect

Zhou Wenzhong stated that Boao was originally an international economic forum, mainly bringing together entrepreneurs and economists, but if the forum had continued to focus exclusively on economic topics the value of any conclusions would be limited. So this year the forum has expanded its scope to include political security. For example, China-U.S. relations, cooperation in the South China Sea, network security, and other sensitive issues were also discussed.