through an overload of information to get to the heart of the story.
This is The Point.
Welcome to this special edition of The Point, an opinion show coming to you from Beijing.
I'm Li Xin.
What comes to your mind when you think about the South China Sea?
Tensions, disputes, military build-ups?
Probably.
But do you know practical cooperation is expanding between China and its South China Sea neighbours,
especially in green development, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges?
I knew these were going on, but to what extent and what are the details?
Recently...
I had the opportunity to travel to two Southeast Asian countries and feel the pulse of the story for myself.
I met local workers employed at a Chinese-invested port in Malaysia
and talked to fishermen who live by a Chinese-invested power plant in Indonesia.
They showed me up close and personal the other side of the South China Sea story.
To help make sense of my trip, I sat down with Yan Yan, Director of the Research Center
of Oceans Law and Policy at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan, China's southernmost island.
People don't hear about the emphasis on ecological environment
or quality that Chinese investment actually put on the local community.
When they talk about Chinese investment, it's all about resources, that they want to take resources.