China picks brains of foreign experts in gov't work report

By Guo Yiming
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, March 22, 2016
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At a briefing, organized by the State Council Information Office, Huang Shouhong, head of the report's drafting team and vice head of the State Council Research Office, said this year is the second time when the office, along with China's State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, has invited foreign experts to contribute their wisdom to the Premier's report.

"Thirteen celebrated experts, including Nobel laureates in economics, from seven countries, namely, the United States, Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore, have offered many opinions and suggestions," said Huang. "This has also strengthened the international outlook and global vision of the government work report."

READ: The full text of Report on the Work of the Government (2016)

In addition to summarizing the government work in 2015 and working agenda for this year, Premier Li's 2016 government work report also included general introductions of the 13th Five Year Plan, which will guide the country's development between 2016 and 2020.

Therefore, this year's discussion which was held on Jan.12, was more enriched, covering a wide range of topics including escape from the middle-income trap, piloting an innovation-driven economy, financial risk control, environmentally-friendly energy, the "Belt and Road" initiative as well as international capacity cooperation and healthcare reform.

Avoiding a middle-income trap

Edmund S. Phelps, an American economist and the winner of the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science shares his views on China's economy in the future on Friday at Tsinghua University in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]



Edmund S. Phelps, an American economist and the winner of the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, counseled China to focus on economic efficiency to fuel its transition.

"The European Continent has failed to provide key institutions that encourage innovation and has adopted many policies that discourage businesses from attempting to innovate, and discouraged innovative people from forming start-ups for the purpose of innovation," said the Nobel Laureate who advised China not to follow suit but support innovative efforts on a very wide scale suchin the US.

Gary H. Jefferson, a professor of international trade and finance at Brandeis University, pointed out that most countries that avoided the middle-income trap in the past 60 years have maintained a Gini coefficient below 0.40 and have spent over 5% of GDP on education.

He implied that inequity stands in the way of prosperity and advised China to increase spending on R&D and education as well as focus on the fair distribution of resources.

Innovative talents paramount for growth

Steven Chu, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and former U.S. Secretary of Energy, noted that many Chinese PhD candidates do not dare or are not good at questioning or discussing during academic conferences.

He hoped those elites should cultivate a creative mind and be fearless of making mistakes.

"The good news for China is that the country is overflowing with young talents, young people who have the raw ability to change the world through their inventions," said Jeffrey S. Lehman, vice chancellor and CEO of startup joint venture New York University Shanghai. "Yet raw talent is not enough, and they need to develop into mature talent."

He suggested that creativity requires deep mastery, breadth, the ability to frame new questions, courage and openness, which are five qualities that China should advance in cultivating young talents.

Financial risk control

In recent years China has adopted an open attitude towards the development of internet finance in an effort to support the real economy and fill gaps in the financial system not well covered by traditional institutions, but the sector has also brought about many new risks and has resulted in wide-scale fraud.

"2016 will be an important year where unsound practices must be stamped out, regulatory execution undertaken, and the principles of ongoing innovation preserved under the broad umbrella of promoting 'Internet Plus' capabilities across China's industry sectors," said Gregory Dean Gibb, chairman and CEO of the Shanghai Lujiazui International Financial Asset Exchange Co.,Ltd.

Gibb advised that China should detail its regulatory policies in the sector, use Internet-based data and infrastructure to drive risks, and bring new degrees of transparency to financial markets and services.

In response to China's recent fluctuations in both stock and exchange rate markets, Ted Tokuchi, economist and former managing director of CITIC Securities, advised that China should deal with non-performing assets, beef up infrastructure in the financial market, improve crisis response programs and establish a financial regulation system in accordance with the country's conditions.

Energy conservation and environmental protection

In terms of energy conservation and environmental protection, HyoungMiKim, a senior analyst at Natural Resources Defense Council, suggested the share of coal-based power should be reduced from a targeted 62% to 55% by 2020.

Steven Chu also noted that China should advance clean energy in order to reduce costs of green recovery, brain drain and healthcare caused by environmental degradation.

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