China picks brains of foreign experts in gov't work report
- By Guo Yiming
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 22, 2016
The 'Belt and Road' initiative
On China's "Belt and Road" initiative, experts expressed optimism but also pointed out suggestions on how to explain it to the world and broker win-win cooperation.
Gu Qingyang, a public policy expert and professor at the National University of Singapore, said the initiative brings hope to China and the world as a whole but still needs explanation in response to misunderstandings and concerns from the international community.
He advised that China should enhance cooperation with international and regional organizations in order to reduce a sense of insecurity on the side of smaller countries, scale up sustainable development strategies, beware of geopolitical risks and strike a balance between supply and demand in international capacity cooperation.
Gu added that China should also nurture an army of specialized talents to adapt to international investment, legal environment and management in transnational programs.
Healthcare reform
"China has made astonishingly rapid progress in scaling up public access to health services and delivering improved health results, especially when compared to similar middle-income countries," said Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet, a prestigious medical journal.
However, he also admitted that there are growing concerns for the country's overall public health, including the high mortality rate of heart diseases, the overconsumption of tobacco and diseases like diabetes triggered by obesity.
Horton advised that China should deepen health reform, prioritize primary care, take quality of care more seriously, upgrade the public health systems, reengineer the health workforce, seize the opportunities of global health, invest in communication science and scientific institutions while enhancing the creativity of scientists and beef up communication of Chinese health leaders and scientists in the international community.
If implemented well, the above recommendations could make a substantial contribution to advancing China's already impressive progress, Horton noted.
China's confidence
Since 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has presided over three Foreign Experts Consultation Symposiums with Premier Li Keqiang inviting foreign experts to the People's Hall to interact with them on hot issues during the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Huang noted that some of their suggestions have been absorbed into the government work report, and others have been given to related departments for future research and reference.
Foreign experts lauded China for its inclusiveness as it invites their opinions and suggestions during the drafting of such important political documents like the annual government work report.
Annette D.S.M. Nijs, executive director at the Global Initiative of the China Europe International Business School and a former State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands, said it is a unique initiative, which demonstrated the country's openness and transparency. She hopes that other countries will follow suit.
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