The Boao Forum has contributed to win-win progress in Asia, Zhai said. For years after World War II, the continent did not have effective mechanisms for coordinating its efforts to seek sustainable development, resulting in market segregation, sluggish development and regional chaos. The situation improved when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum was established in 1989. Since 1997, Asian cooperation has exhibited new features of inclusiveness and openness. Against this backdrop, the Boao Forum has offered a venue for leaders from governments, business, academia and the media to address the most urgent issues concerning Asia's sustainable development, Zhai said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao meets Vincent Siew, Chairman of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, in Boao on April 12

The forum, along with other regional cooperative mechanisms, has formed a coordinative network involving both the government and civil society, Zhai said. It has thus helped promote Asian economic integration, improve the Asian countries' capacity to jointly deal with non-traditional security threats, bridge the ideological gap between them and make Asia better heard in and connected with the world.

The Boao Forum is the only non-governmental organization that gathers representatives from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It may help create an "economic circle" that integrates the four regions, Zhai said.

The economic and trade cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan are faced with a historical opportunity, Hu said while meeting Vincent Siew, Chairman of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation on the sidelines of the forum. Under the new circumstances, the mainland would continue to promote economic and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits, Hu added.

Asia's Davos

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called the Boao Forum the "Asian version of the Davos Forum" in his speech at the opening ceremony on April 12. But Shen from the CASS disagreed that the forum is on par with annual meeting of top business leaders held by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While he believes China was able to present itself to the world by hosting the Boao Forum, he noted that it mainly involves Asian countries, although others non-Asian nations can participate.

"Unlike the Davos forum, the Boao Forum for Asia centers on Asia," he said. "It is not necessary for it to go global."

The consultative forum strives mainly to promote mutual understanding through information sharing and direct dialogue between government leaders and entrepreneurs instead of being a way to achieve regional integration, he said.

The Boao Forum for Asia is non-governmental mechanism, a main feature that distinguishes it from other Asian cooperative mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Plus China, Japan and South Korea, Zhai said. Inspired by the Davos forum at the beginning, the Boao forum has distinct Chinese and Asian characteristics, he said. For example, the Chinese Government strongly supports the forum, because it intends to use this opportunity to make its policies known to other countries.

Boao Forum Annual Conferences