China's evolving role in global economic governance praised
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 19, 2016
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Chinese and foreign delegates communicate and exchange views on the innovation in global economic governance. |
Chinese and foreign delegates communicated and discussed how they could cooperate to create a better system of global economic governance at the three-day CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016.
The international interparty dialogue was held at a time when the international economy, along with its governance, is undergoing profound changes. Its aim was to ensure China's voice is heard and the ideas of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for national governance are fully understood.
The CPC hopes the dialogue platform will help draw out similar opinions from other countries with a clear understanding of the possible differences between their approaches.
Kjeld Erik Brodsgaard, director of the Asia Research Center at the Copenhagen Business School, said it was important for China to take the initiative, especially at a time when neither the United States nor Europe seems able to lead world economic recovery due to their own economic and political problems.
"The world is in the midst of great challenges. The so-called Brexit event has caused much instability in Europe. The ongoing presidential election campaign in the U.S. is also creating quite a lot of uncertainties," he said.
He believed China was showing its responsibility to "move the world forward" with its "Belt and Road" Initiative, along with supporting the foundation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Despite the absence of the United States and Japan, many countries, including those in Western Europe, such as Britain, France, Germany as well as his own country Denmark, had no suspicions of the institution.
"It's all about connectivity," said Brodsgaard. "President Xi mentioned in Hangzhou that we need an interconnected world. So, by establishing the 'Belt and Road,' you connect the world in a better way, like in the old days when Marco Polo and the Silk Road created connectivity and brought the world closer."
The "Belt and Road" is indeed an innovative idea for better global economic governance and a solution to reinvigorate the sluggish world, because its attempt to build new infrastructure projects in developing countries while upgrading those in the developed world creates huge demand, said he.
Justin Lin Yifu, a leading Chinese economist and former senior vice president of the World Bank, said infrastructure investment under the "Belt and Road" plan would create new jobs, stimulate spending and boost exports, and therefore create more room for economic structural reform, a universally agreed prescription for treating sluggish economic growth.
"Each year, the investment on infrastructure could reach US$2 trillion globally, US$800 billion in Asia and US$500 billion in Africa," said Lin. According to him, each yuan-worth of investment on infrastructure in developing countries would lead to a 70 cents-worth of increase of imports, 35 cents of which would come from the exports of developed countries, producing a win-win result from the "Belt and Road" Initiative.
In contrast, Lin said, the old solutions such as currency depreciation and implementing austerity measures to reinvigorate a weak economy were no longer viable options for developed countries. This was because such a "politically incorrect" approach would incur public resentment.
More importantly, the latest international financial crisis had spread to almost all countries so that the depreciation of one country's currency – in a bid to boost exports – instantly would be copied by all others as a hedging device.
While the "Belt and Road" would take care of the interests of developed countries for win-win results, as Lin described in his speech at the Dialogue, it is indeed developing countries that would benefit far more from the grand China-led initiative, since the new infrastructure projects being built or considered would create concrete connectivity among countries along the Belt and Road, and not necessarily China alone.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, an economist who leads the Democrat Party and is a former prime minister of Thailand, highly regarded the Belt and Road as "harmonizing the agenda of ASEAN countries with better connectivity." Abhisit said China was showing a good example in leading the region forward and he hailed the role played by the CPC for being the backbone of the integrated approach by a resolute Chinese government.
He believed China's "Belt and Road" Initiative would strengthen ties with ASEAN countries, and the Thai-China high-speed railway, whose construction will shortly start, was a case in point. The railway runs across Thailand from south to north to finally reach the southwest Chinese city of Kunming, in Yunnan Province, with a link to the China-Lao railway network now being built.
"No matter what party is ruling Thailand, it should recognize the importance of facilitating coordinated development between both countries," said Abhisit. "Countries along the Mekong River should seek greater connectivity. That means physical connectivity, involving not only the natural route by river, but other new projects that link us together."
These ideas all lead to a point that, in regard to global economic governance, the growth issue keeps expanding. It does not only include international trade and investment but also religion, terrorism and climate change, among other non-traditional challenges. This means a stronger role for political parties in ensuring positive results in tackling challenges.
After the discussions during the CPC in Dialogue with the World 2016, it is now clear how political parties across the world can contribute their philosophies and action plans for a better system of global economic governance.
In other words, political parties should take the responsibility to condense the demands from the general public into theories and guidelines to direct a country to move forward, particularly when the economic globalization is stuck in perplexity at a crossroads.
In the scheme of global economic governance, political parties are urged to mobilize the public and incorporate talents and stakeholders to deal with changes, as they have great resources in terms of policies and initiatives to make things happen.
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