Chinese club unveils open-ocean yacht race plan at UN conference
Event billed as part of commitment to protecting marine environment
China plans to start an international sailing competition modelled on two of the world’s most challenging open-ocean races – Britain’s Fastnet and Australia’s Sydney-Hobart – as one of its commitments to protecting the world’s oceans.
Backers of the proposed sailing competition also cast the plan as a component of China’s 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative, which aims to strengthen trade, economic and cultural ties with Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe through massive port construction and expansion.
Announced at the Ocean Conference – a week-long programme at the United Nations – the planned sailing competition is a joint project of two Shanghai-based organisations: the International Development Information Organisation-DevNet, a Chinese NGO recognised by the UN’s Economic and Social Council; and Noahs Sailing Club (NSC).
An international sailing race hosted by China “would not only show the sportsmanship of peace and progress, but also establish a new image of openness, civilisation and harmony”, in the same way that table tennis helped establish relations between the United States and China in the early 1970s, NSC chief executive Zhou Kewen said at the UN this week.
