Original Aspiration to Guard the Blue Ocean—Written on the Eve of China Maritime Day

Vast green waves raise the sails of the journey, the vast maritime borders reflect the original aspiration, and the 2026 China Maritime Day is approaching.

In 2004, I submitted a proposal at the Second Session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, advocating for the establishment of China Maritime Day. The Ministry of Transport attached great importance to it, organized extensive research and discussions, and formally submitted an application to the State Council. Coinciding with the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages to the West in 2005, an important historical opportunity, China Maritime Day was officially approved by the General Office of the State Council. Rising from a written suggestion to a national institutional arrangement, this achievement embodies the collective efforts of industry authorities, the shipping industry, marine workers, and all sectors of society, carrying the century-old aspiration of the Chinese nation to manage the oceans and revitalize shipping.

China is an ancient maritime nation with a long history and a vast maritime power. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, China's jurisdictional sea area covers nearly 3 million square kilometers, with a maritime territory of 2.997 million square kilometers. It exercises sovereign jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, conducting orderly activities such as fisheries management and marine oil and gas exploration. The vast blue territory contains abundant marine resources, which are crucial to national sovereignty, resource security, and long-term development. Looking back in history, in 1405, Zheng He's fleet set sail to the West, embarking on a grand journey of ancient large-scale ocean voyages. The pioneering, neighborly, and mutually beneficial Chinese maritime spirit accumulated over centuries of maritime journeys has long been integrated into the nation's bloodline and passed down through generations. Today, China is the world's largest shipping nation, with world-class port clusters renowned globally, the largest ocean-going fleet in the world, and millions of seafarers steadfastly guarding the South China Sea, navigating the oceans, and silently contributing.

Today, shipping has long surpassed the traditional scope of cargo transportation. It not only contributes to economic globalization and empowers national rejuvenation but also serves as a critical support for maintaining the stability of global industrial chains and ensuring the orderly operation of international trade. Shipping is not merely a common commercial circulation industry but also a strategic cornerstone for sustaining the national economic lifeline and ensuring the safety of maritime routes.

The theme of the 2026 China Maritime Day is "Digital Intelligence Empowerment, Navigating the Future." Currently, the digital and intelligent transformation of shipping has become an irreversible trend of the times. To promote the modernization of shipping, it is essential to achieve dual empowerment and coordinated progress in technological iteration and talent cultivation. The industry must continue to delve into the innovative application of digital technologies, using intelligent transformation to improve quality and efficiency and to streamline global logistics chains. At the same time, based on the new development framework of smart shipping, it is necessary to improve the new training system for seafarers and cultivate a group of versatile talents with traditional maritime skills, digital technology capabilities, and comprehensive qualities, laying a solid talent foundation for the high-quality development of shipping.

Standing at a new historical juncture, the vast number of shipping practitioners should continue the millennia-old maritime heritage, uphold the original aspiration of strengthening the nation through the sea, activate industrial momentum through digital and intelligent innovation, safeguard the maritime lifeline with practical dedication, and steadily advance amidst the tides of the times, striving to write a new chapter of high-quality shipping development and maritime power construction in the new era.

(The author is a former Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and a captain.)