The Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation, registered as the Hainan Free Trade Port Research Foundation (海南自貿港研究基金會), was founded on September 11, 2006. The Foundation provides funding for research, training, and academic exchanges related to the South China Sea and Hainan’s Free Trade Port. It is affiliated with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (中國南海研究院), a Chinese state-backed think tank established in 1996. The foundation also backs the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS) in Washington, D.C., which the expert Elizabeth Economy described in a 2017 piece the Council on Foreign Relations as “not a think tank but a channel for propaganda,” noting its commentary lacks any critical analysis of China. On the non-profit website Candid, a service for NGOs, the Hainan Nanhai Research Foundation describes its mission in security and foreign policy terms as “support[ing] and promot[ing] research and training in the South China Sea, [supporting] the country’s overall diplomatic service, and for the country to develop the strategic plan of services for the construction of Hainan Province maritime services.”