Work together to advance economic globalization

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

President Xi Jinping shared his insights on economic globalization in January when speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. He pointed out that economic globalization resulted from growing social productivity and is a natural outcome of scientific and technological progress. It has powered global growth but also created new problems. The pitfalls in this process must be taken seriously. In the face of both opportunities and challenges, the right thing to do is to seize every opportunity, jointly meet challenges and chart the right course for economic globalization. He emphasized that we should act proactively and manage economic globalization as appropriate so as to release its positive impact and rebalance the process of economic globalization. We should follow the general trend, proceed from our respective national conditions and embark on the right pathway of integrating into economic globalization at the right pace. We should strike a balance between efficiency and equity to ensure that different countries, different social strata and different groups of people all share in the benefits of economic globalization.

These important views shared by President Xi Jinping have pointed the way for overcoming the difficulties and challenges facing the world economy and promoting the prosperity and progress of human society. In pursuing development and reform, we need to keep up with the changes in the world, follow the trend of the times, and promote Asian experience and vision. We need to work together to advance economic globalization and free trade and jointly create a community of shared future for Asia and mankind.

First, we should all be committed to peaceful development. Without a peaceful environment, economic globalization cannot be realized. All countries should keep to the path of peaceful development, foster and practice a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and jointly maintain a peaceful and stable environment for development. Major countries shoulder primary responsibilities for maintaining world peace. They should step up strategic communication, increase strategic mutual trust, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, play a constructive role in international and regional affairs, and refrain from pursuing selfish interest at the cost of regional stability and strategic balance. To address regional tensions and differences, the parties concerned should stick to peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue and consultation. It is important to step up cooperation in the non-traditional security fields, and jointly tackle global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, refugees and natural disasters.

Second, we should vigorously promote innovation-driven development. Innovation is the primary driving force for global growth. The G20 Hangzhou Summit adopted the Blueprint on Innovative Growth and formulated specific action plan, which is crucial for reinvigorating global growth. In line with the consensus of the Hangzhou Summit, we should stimulate and drive growth through innovation and reform to build an innovative world economy. It is important to promote innovation in macro-economic policies, introduce an effective package of fiscal, monetary and structural reform policies, and address both symptoms and root causes with a multi-pronged strategy. We should be determined to push for the adjustment of economic structure and shift in growth model, in order to create more space and momentum for growth. It is important to seize the opportunities brought by the new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolution, employ new technologies, develop new economy, cultivate new driving forces, and foster new industries, new models and new businesses to unleash social creativity and market dynamism.

Third, we should lead the way toward open development. We should advocate the philosophy of open development, build an open world economy, and promote shared benefits and integrated interests in building value chains and markets. We should reenergize trade and investment as the engines of growth, firmly uphold the multilateral free trade regime represented by the WTO, make free trade arrangements more open and inclusive and build networks of economic cooperation and free trade oriented to the whole world. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN, and the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and the ROK) cooperation mechanism. Regional cooperation in East Asia now stands at a new historical starting point. We should continue to deepen China-ASEAN cooperation, ASEAN Plus Three cooperation, Lancang-Mekong cooperation, East Asia Summit (EAS), Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) and other regional cooperation processes. We should work for the full and effective implementation of the protocol for the upgrade of China-ASEAN FTA, conclude negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at an early date, and push for the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) to lay a solid foundation for a community of shared future in Asia.

Fourth, we should actively pursue shared development. We should improve the philosophy and modality of development, work hard to address uneven development and make economic globalization more inclusive and universal. Countries should strive to balance the relations between capital and labor, growth and distribution, and efficiency and equality, so as to ensure equal access to development opportunities, share the fruits of development and uphold social equity and justice. We should step up North-South dialogue and South-South cooperation, help underdeveloped countries integrate into the global industrial chain, encourage developing countries to increase capacity for self-development and intensify efforts of poverty reduction and implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We should aim at realizing balanced development at a global level so that the light of economic globalization will shine upon every corner of the world.

Fifth, we should strive to promote equitable development. We should adapt to the new changes in world economic landscape and push for the reform of the global economic governance system to provide strong guarantee for global growth. In international economic cooperation, we should ensure equality for countries in decision making, rights and obligations. We should stick to multilateralism, uphold the authority and effectiveness of multilateral system, push the G20 to transform from a crisis-response mechanism to a long-term governance mechanism and solidify its position as the premier platform of global economic governance. We should continue to push forward quota and governance reform of the IMF to give emerging market economies and developing countries more representation and say. We should work together to ensure good implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and promote balanced economic, social and environmental progress.