The strategic cooperative partners of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road are not limited to ASEAN, but are to enhance exchanges with border countries and regions with dots and lines and areas, to connect the market chains of major economic sectors such as ASEAN, South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Europe, to develop a strategic economic cooperation economic belt facing the South China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean, and to take the economic and trade integration of Asia, Europe, and Africa as the long-term goal of development. Since ASEAN is located at the crossroads and necessary places of the Maritime Silk Road, it will be the primary development goal of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, while China and ASEAN have a broad political foundation and a solid economic foundation, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road conforms to the common interests and common requirements of both sides.

The main routes of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road are: Quanzhou - Fuzhou - Guangzhou - Haikou - Beihai - Hanoi - Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta - Colombo - Kolkata - Nairobi - Athens - Venice. The main countries are: South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Brunei, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, Greece, Italy and other countries.