The paper underscores three facts: First, Fujian Province is a cradle of the maritime route; second, it has always been a pivotal and active junction of the Maritime Silk Road; third, it has an unparalleled role to play in the construction of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. The paper also spotlights four issues of concern in this regard. It writes that to fulfill the mission of building the maritime route, Fujian should, in light of state strategies, make practical and proactive plans, boosting regional connectivity by tapping into its advantages, comprising its connections with overseas Chinese and its proximity to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. It should also make coordinative measures to improve the relations between the economic and trade exchanges with people-to-people exchanges, governmental cooperations with non-governmental ones, and China's opening-up policies with its "going global" drives. Through specific projects, Fujian looks forward to new breakthroughs in the fields, including foreign trade, investment, labor and technological cooperation, maritime cooperation and cultural exchanges with other countries and regions along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. In doing so, Fujian will rise to become a key junction on this new sea route, the forefront of foreign trade, a docking platform for currency circulation as well as a channel to learn about different policies of different nations and people-to-people communication. It will, therefore, become the beachhead of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. The author makes six proposals for Fujian's involvement in the construction of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

HUNAG, Duan

(Vice Director, Development and Research Center of Fujian Government)