South China Sea source of Philippine-China connection not conflict: Filipino scholar

The South China Sea has been a source of connection between China and the Philippines and not a source of conflict, said a Filipino scholar at the just-concluded 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Friday.

Rommel Banlaoi, president of Philippine Society for International Security Studies, said it was Western colonization that turned the Philippines' positive attitude toward China into hostility.

"Japan and the United States can play a role in peace and in stability in the Asia Pacific, but this role should not be used for a strategic encirclement of our close neighbor, China. I'm writing a book, China and the Philippines lived very peacefully for more than 1,000 years until Spain colonized us, until America colonized us, until Japan colonized us. We had a very good attitude towards China, but we were colonized by Western powers with a strong anti-China attitude. And now, we're having that attitude, too," said Banlaoi.

"We want to go back to our shared path of peaceful coexistence. The South China Sea was not the sea that divided Filipinos and the Chinese. The South China Sea was the source of our connection, the source of our shared history, the source of our shared experiences, but that kind of history was distorted by colonialism," he said.

The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum was held from Thursday to Saturday, with unprecedented participation from over 100 countries and organizations. Under the theme of "Promoting Peace for a Shared Future," this year's event featured critical discussions on global security, regional stability, and innovative technologies in defense.

Initiated in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is a high-level security and defense forum in the Asia-Pacific with significant international influence.

South China Sea source of Philippine-China connection not conflict: Filipino scholar

China's total import and export volume of trade in sports services reached 52.89 billion yuan (about 7.45 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, said the State General Administration of Sport on Wednesday.

At a press conference in Beijing, Zhou Jinqiang, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport, briefed on the achievements scored by China since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012.

China's sports sector has achieved high-quality development, with a widespread trend of fitness among the public, remarkable achievements in competitive sports, vibrant youth sports activities, and rapid growth in the sports industry, Zhou said, adding these advancements have contributed to building China into a leading sports nation.

"Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the total scale and added value of China's sports industry have significantly increased, with growth rates surpassing those of GDP during the same period. The proportion of the sports industry in the country's GDP has also continued to rise steadily," said Zhou.

"From 2012 to 2022, the annual average growth rate of the added value of the sports industry reached 15.4 percent, with its share of the domestic GDP increasing from 0.60 percent to 1.08 percent. In 2023, China's total import and export volume of trade in sports services stood at 52.89 billion yuan, marking a 178 percent increase compared to the previous year. At present, China has essentially forged a sports industry system that is led by competitive performances and fitness leisure, with the joint development of sports venue services, sports training, sports manufacturing, and sports media," said Zhou.

China's total trade in sports services reaches 52.89 bln yuan in 2023: official