China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies neighbour each other and share several similarities in terms of natural resources, especially tropical forest resources, which makes forestry cooperation and communication an important driving force of Sino–ASEAN cooperation. In this context, APFNet proposed to establish the Sino–ASEAN Network of Forestry Research Institutes (SANFRI) to advance forestry research by facilitating collaboration among forestry research institutes and to contribute to sustainable forest management among ASEAN economies and China.