China's newest airport, on the tropical Hainan Island, swings into action this week as international political and business leaders arrive for the annual Boao Forum for Asia against a backdrop of a slowing Chinese economy.
Chinese Premier Li Keqing is set to deliver the keynote speech at the conference on Thursday, addressing the theme of "Asia's New Future: New Dynamics and New Vision".
But attendees gathering for the annual business and political networking conference will have a clear focus on the health of the Chinese economy looking for reassurance that its leaders have the slowdown under control. 
The Chinese economy grew at 6.9 per cent last year, the lowest in 25 years. China's latest five-year plan aims for an annual growth target of between 6.5 and 7 per cent a year, with Premier Li declaring recently the country would "not suffer a hard landing".
The new airport at the city of Boao is aimed at making it easier for politicians and business people to fly directly into the conference centre, but it will also serve as another gateway for the 50 million tourists who visit the resort island each year.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has passed up the opportunity to attend his first Boao Forum with the Australian government being represented by the Federal Minister for Tourism and International Education, Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck.
Other political leaders attending include Nepalese Prime Minister Sharma Oli, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest, a long-time supporter of the forum, and FMG chief executive Nev Power will be among the business leaders from Australia attending the conference. Forrest, who also has extensive pastoral and beef cattle interests in Western Australia through his family company Minderoo, is participating in the forum on China's agricultural problems while Forrest and Power will chair a CEO round table on energy and resources.
Other Australian business leaders expected to attend include Seven Group Holdings executive chairman Kerry Stokes and Nine Entertainment chairman Peter Costello who is also chairman of the federal government's Future Fund.
Business leaders from China and Australia will meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the opportunities from the recent China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
The official program says 30 chief executives from Australia and China will meet to "touch upon the hard nuts in bilateral trade and investment, come up with solutions and explore new business opportunities under the FTA".
Their meeting comes days after the federal government announced it will institute new checks on foreign investment in major infrastructure projects such as ports and electricity.
This followed complaints by US President Obama last   November that the US was taken by surprise when Chinese interests bought a long-term lease on the port of Darwin.
While the new requirements for foreign bids for major infrastructure projects to be referred to the Foreign Investment Review Board apply to all foreign bidders, the changes are being seen as a direct response to complaints from the Obama Administration that the US was not given prior notice of the Chinese deal given the agreements to base US marines in the area.
Former prime minister Bob Hawke was one of the initiators in 1998 of the forum, known as the "Asian Davos", along with former Philippines president Fidel Ramos, and former Japanese prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa. The town of Boao on Hainan Island has hosted the forum since 2002.
Last year's forum was held against the backdrop of a slowing Chinese economy and falling world iron ore prices that put pressure on iron ore producers, including FMG.
Forrest complained about what he saw as deliberate overproduction of iron ore by industry -giants BHP Billiton and Rio and went on to call for a federal government inquiry into production levels in the industry. This year's forum comes as iron ore prices have turned around from their -recent lows of about $US38 a tonne in   December to about $US56 a tonne last week.
Falling iron ore prices prompted rating agency Moody's to downgrade its credit rating for FMG this month from Ba2 to Ba3 with a negative outlook, citing a downward shift in the mining -sector and the slowing Chinese economy.
FMG recently announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Brazilian iron ore giant Vale, which could see Vale buy up to 15 per cent of FMG's capital on market and invest in its WA mines.
While the Australian economy has been hit by the downturn in the Chinese economy, it has been benefiting from the increasing appetite for travel by the growing Chinese middle class.
Hainan Island, which supporters like to paint as the -Hawaii of China, has seen an increasing number of Chinese and regional tourists, and Tourism Minister Senator Colbeck is keen to use the forum to help boost Chinese tourists to Australia.
"Last year 120 million Chinese travelled overseas, of which Australia received just over a million, which generated more than $8 billion a year in tourism income," he told The Australian.
"This is expected to reach 200 million by 2020, which should mean an increase in tourists to Australia. But we would like to increase our share of the total." He said Australia had just opened a new visa processing facility in the inland city of Chengdu to help encourage more tourists from China's west.
He said Chinese investment in Australia, such as the $1 billion Jewel project on the Gold Coast by the Wanda Group, was also encouraging more Chinese tourists to Australia.
Last year saw the start of direct flights from the city of Wuhan, with a population of 10 million, to the Gold Coast following a deal between Jetstar and Wanda that involves an extra capacity of 70,000 seats a year.
Hainan Airlines recently began flying into Sydney Airport with a service from Sydney to Xian.
Senator Colbeck said Australia was working on plans to introduce a 10-year multiple entry visa for Chinese tourists that is planned to come into effect later this year.
He said he expected this week's discussions would include potential ways to take advantage of the new Chinese-Australia free trade agreement.
While there has been considerable attention given the potential boost in exports of agricultural products to China, Senator Colbeck said there would be increasing attention given to the potential under the agreement for more Australian services to be sold into China.Glenda Korporaal will be attending the Boao Forum as a guest of Fortescue Metals Group