Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysia-China Friendship Association Sabah (MCFAS) President Dr Oh Ei Sun and Vice President Shahriman Lockman were among those invited to speak at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference in Hainan, China, recently.Oh, who attended the annual conference since 2015, shared his views together with Shahriman in the BFA conference’s South China Sea Sub-forum, with the theme “Building an Order of Cooperation and Security in the South China Sea”, where they joined other senior officials and scholars on South China Sea affairs.
Oh, who is also senior fellow at Singapore Institute of International Affairs, spoke on the prospects for the newly adopted Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest free trade agreement, and maritime cooperation.
Shahriman, who is also Director of Special Projects at Institute of Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia, spoke on the rules and regulations of cooperation in the South China Sea.
For the record, the pre-eminent high-level BFA conference had gathered national leaders, business moguls and senior intellectuals from around the Asia-Pacific region since the turn of the century.
This year’s BFA conference was themed “An Uncertain World: Solidarity and Cooperation for Development amid Challenges”, and saw more than 1,500 high-powered participants from over 50 countries.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also gave a keynote speech at the BFA conference this year.
