To open up or to close? To advance or go back? The global economy is currently at the crossroads and it is in desperate need of sufficient coura
To open up or to close? To advance or go back? The global economy is currently at the crossroads and it is in desperate need of sufficient courage, wisdom and responsibility from around the world to chart a clear direction and path for sustainable economic growth. The upcoming World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017 has drawn extensive attention for putting the focus on responsive and responsible leadership for effective global economic governance.
President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting and deliver a speech, offering Chinese remedies for the world’s economic ailments. It will be the first time the top Chinese leader has attended the event.
The Chinese economy is undergoing unprecedented and profound changes. The “innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared” development concepts put forward by President Xi not only offer solutions for China’s current outstanding economic problems, they also point out a clear direction for its long-term development. Supply-side structural reform has sparked a new development dynamic and raised the quality and effects of the country’s economic development. The strengthened efforts to promote deepened overall reforms, the simplifying of administrative procedures and the delegating of central government power to lower levels of government, along with innovation-driven development, the rule of law, and the fight against corruption, are all contributing to the establishing of a governance system that can ensure China’s sustainable and healthy economic development.
The Chinese word for “economy” means “for society to prosper and benefit the people”, an aim of governance advocated by Chinese sages in ancient times. It is also an important governance concept cherished by the Communist Party of China. In the first three quarters of 2016, China’s economy grew by 6.7 percent year-on-year, and its per capita disposable income registered a growth of 6.3 percent. In the first 11 months of the year, China created 12.49 million new jobs in cities and townships and lifted more than 10 million people out of poverty, further raising Chinese people’s sense of well-being and happiness. Against the backdrop of the global economic slowdown, it has really not been easy for China to make these achievements.
And, in recent times, remarkable progress has also been made in China’s infrastructure, such as the railway extension to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the building of a comprehensive highway network throughout the country, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam and multiple ports that better connect the country with the ocean. A set of complete industrial sectors have been established and China has realized a bumper agricultural harvest for many years in succession. At the same time, China has achieved new breakthroughs in its aerospace development and further built up its national defense capabilities.
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