Abstract: Promoting the intra-regional trade around the South China Sea and strengthening the economic and trade cooperation between Mainland China and relevant countries and regions are positive interactions with the building the 21^st-Century Maritime Silk Road. Regional trade has recovered steadily and become better, and trade ties have been strengthened, laying a foundation for further growth of the intra-regional trade. However, such a prospect has been shadowed by the high degree of repetition of the trade structure, and the unbalanced spatial distribution of the intensity of trade ties. Mainland of China, taking the building cause as the starting point, should coordinate and improve the current bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanism, and promote the optimization of intra-regional trade structure through industrial transfer and infrastructure upgrading; we should coordinate the role of domestic provinces, consider regional geopolitical factors, so as to promote the growth of intra-regional trade around the South China Sea, thus achieving a mutual benefits between mainland China and other countries and regions around the South China Sea.

Key words: South China Sea, intra-regional trade, the 21^st Century Maritime Silk Road