Davos, World Economic Forum (WEF) & China news, updates

[TaiShang]

What China has done in the last three or four decades is nothing short of a miracle.

In fact, my friend, all of Confucius sphere from Singapore to Korea and Japan (and China's Taiwan) have had a similar experience of three decades of high growth (9-10% on average).

What makes China's growth spectacular is perhaps:

1. China's sheer size and scope (population and land, which makes a sustained development a more difficult feat)

2. Lack of favorable geopolitical environment which favored hugely Japan and South Korea during their explosive growth.

For us, still, Japan and Korea's industrialization is the benchmark to achieve.

 

[NakedLunch]

In fact, my friend, all of Confucius sphere from Singapore to Korea and Japan (and China's Taiwan) have had a similar experience of three decades of high growth (9-10% on average).

What makes China's growth spectacular is perhaps:

1. China's sheer size and scope (population and land, which makes a sustained development a more difficult feat)

2. Lack of favorable geopolitical environment which favored hugely Japan and South Korea during their explosive growth.

For us, still, Japan and Korea's industrialization is the benchmark to achieve.

I have been watching China's growth since I was a teenager in the 1980's and I am somewhat familiar with Chinese history. I know the journey China has taken from being taunted as the 'sick man of Asia' to standing at the threshold of being a global superpower. It is truly breathtaking. Lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty within two or three decades is no mean feat. China deserves its status. You guys have worked worked for it.

 

[ahojunk]

China set to be focus at WEF gathering
2017-01-12 11:14 | China Daily | Editor: Feng Shuang

Attention on the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos will this year be focused squarely on China's President Xi Jinping.

It will be the first time a Chinese head of state has attended the annual gathering, which has evolved over more than four decades into the ultimate international networking session.

Xi, who will open this year's meeting, will be accompanied by the largest delegation of Chinese officials to attend Davos since it first participated in 1979.

Every year in mid-January, CEOs, heads of state, top government officials, artists, academics and media moguls rub shoulders at the small Swiss winter resort and discuss the major topic of the day.

This year, amid a perceived US retreat from global affairs and with Europe facing political uncertainty, attendees will watch out for China to emerge as the champion of globalization and multilateralism.

Last year, the theme was Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This year, from Jan 17-20, delegates at the 47th gathering will talk about Responsive and Responsible Leadership.

For this year's record 3,000 invitation-only participants, networking is probably more important than the formal agenda of speeches and discussion panels.

Around 500 journalists will attempt to track events, knowing the most interesting discussions take place out of sight.

It is an atmosphere that can provide the background for deals, that could range from business initiatives to international peace agreements.

In 1992, South Africa's last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk, shook hands at Davos with Nelson Mandela. Two years later, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held a joint news conference with Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres.

The annual meeting began in 1971 as an obscure management gathering, the brainchild of German-born Klaus Schwab, a business academic.

Schwab, who is still executive chairman of the WEF, believed business was not only about shareholders, but also about stakeholders beyond the business world.

The forum evolved into a gathering for those who, in their respective fields, run the world.

Davos Man－barely a fifth of participants are women－has become shorthand for the kind of transnational mover and shaker who commutes by helicopter or private jet. The image presents a challenge after a year in which Brexit in Britain and the election of Donald Trump in the US have been interpreted as part of a backlash against globalized elites.

It is recognized in this year's theme of responsible leadership, a concept the WEF says "requires recognizing that frustration and discontent are increasing in the segments of society that are not experiencing economic development and social progress".

This year, representatives of more than 70 countries will take part alongside heads of international organizations, including Antonio Guterres, the new Secretary-General of the UN.

The author is a senior editorial consultant for China Daily UK.

,

 

[TaiShang]

WEF expects China to be ‘responsible, responsive’ global leader
Xinhua, January 15, 2017

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has expressed his expectations of China becoming a "responsible and responsive" global leader amid myriad uncertainties and de-globalization and protectionist trends in the world.

"I think it is very important to have China represented as a responsible and responsive leadership country in the world," Schwab said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua lately.

At the invitation of Schwab, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the WEF's 47th annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 17.

Xi will deliver a speech at the opening ceremony, and hold discussions with Schwab and guests from business, media and academic circles.

Calling China "a strong geoeconomical and geopolitical power," he said that "in the present global situation where we face the danger of de-globalization and disintegration of global cooperation, I think his (Xi's) voice is particularly important."

He explained that a responsible and responsive leader should not only be "a country which is responsive to the changes, but a country which also presents an attitude and policies that keep the world open."

He said he would pay special attention to China's vision to deliver in the upcoming annual meeting, in relation to the future of global cooperation.

Schwab founded the World Economic Forum in 1971, initially known as the European Management Forum. In 1987, the forum changed its name to the World Economic Forum and sought to broaden its vision by focusing on international concerns.

China first sent a delegation to the world-famous meeting in 1979, with subsequent participations marked by an incremental and positive assertiveness.

Schwab recalled his first contact with China almost 40 years ago.

"In 1978, when I first read about the opening-up and reform policies of Deng Xiaoping, I feel China will certainly become a major nation in the global community. For this reason, we have established since 1979 the first contact by inviting a Chinese delegation to Davos," He said.

Compared with China's performance in the late 1970s when it was coming out of isolation and trying to develop better knowledge about the rest of the world, he lauded that "China is today much more assertive."

"China has a lot of reasons to be proud of its development," he added.

While applauding the many social and economic achievements China has made since then, Schwab also lauded that strategies have been implemented in the country to enforce new technologies, such as the initiative of mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

"We not only see the curiosity and interest, but also readiness of China to prepare itself for the fourth industrial revolution," he noted, adding that "China is a very much forward-looking country."

The WEF annual meeting will kick off next week under the theme "Responsive and Responsible Leadership." This year's meeting will unite a record 3,000 government, business and civil society leaders, including over 50 heads of state and government, along with 1,800 business leaders from all industries.

Four main tracks will be explored by stakeholders, namely re-imagining global cooperation, revitalizing the global economy, reforming capitalism and preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

"We hope that China will engage on an ongoing basis to elaborate solutions for tomorrow," Schwab said.

"China can contribute to the world as a locomotive but also as a responsive and responsible leadership," he added.

***

Responsible, fine. Responsive, I believe, still too early for China. China needs to tend to its own development first before worrying too much about others.

 

[ahojunk]

Picture of Davos, Switzerland. It looks very pretty.

Snow-capped buildings are seen in Davos, Switzerland. (Photo/CGTN)

 

[ahojunk]

President Xi arrives in Davos to attend World Economic Forum
2017-01-17 14:29 | Xinhua | Editor:Li Yan

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2017, to attend the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

 

[TaiShang]

How China’s delegation to Davos convince the world

By Pieter Bottelier (People's Daily) January 17, 2017

As President Xi Jinping leads China’s delegation to the annual World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, people there and everywhere will want to know from him and his delegation what lies ahead for China’s economy.

The question is hard to answer. Economic and political uncertainty abounds in many parts of the world and China’s economy has never been more globally intertwined. An unusually high degree of uncertainty is facing us in the management of international political relations, trade, currency values, cross-border capital flows, etc. The American President-elect Donald Trump seems inclined to deemphasize globalization and to accept “protectionism” as an instrument of economic policy. The whole world seems to be on the cusp of big-time change. There will be important, but unpredictable elections in many countries in 2017.

I got to know China, at least a little bit, when I had the privilege of serving as head of the World Bank’s office in Beijing in the early and mid-1990s. It was an exciting time for all of us, including our Chinese counterparts all over the country.

We were like brothers and sisters, fellow-soldiers in combat, fighting for the same purpose: China’s economic development. Even though Deng Xiaoping was already very old then and no longer actively involved in managing the country, his “reform and opening up” spirit pervaded everything we did.

I had worked with many developing countries around the world, but never experienced such determination to succeed, such willingness to work long hours and assume responsibility for one’s actions and decisions, such eagerness to learn from international experience and such skillful, pragmatic efforts to modernize the economy, as in China. It was an exhilarating experience.

The results of China’s development efforts over the past 35 years are well known: abject poverty was sharply reduced, a sizeable middle class has emerged, housing, social services and social security have been much improved. Even remote villages got electricity, water, decent roads and Internet access. China became the world’s largest economy (measured in terms of domestic purchasing power; the 2nd largest if measured in terms of international purchasing power), as well as largest exporter (soon also largest importer) and manufacturer, measured in terms of gross output value. In spite of the economic slowdown in recent years China still accounted for close to one-third of global growth – its contribution was about 50% during the years of the Great Recession (2008-’09). China is also becoming innovative. For example, it is already a world leader in developing alternative sources of energy, nano-technology, certain pharmaceuticals and in mobile payment services. Its influence on the world economy is now so great that the powerful upturn in domestic housing sales and construction in 2016 (following the boom in mortgage lending and government efforts to reduce inventories of unsold housing) was enough to revive global commodity markets in the second half of last year. China’s economic achievements and technological progress command great respect around the world.

But economists don’t agree on what lies ahead for China’s economy in 2017. Many, including me, are worried that not enough has been done to deal with the economic problems of recent years and that these problems (including serious overleveraging and excess capacity in many industries, (especially SOEs) and large-scale, only partially controlled, shadow banking) may trigger financial instability. Others are more relaxed, pointing out that China has often faced serious problems in the past, but always took the right corrective action and came out on top, without a crisis.

How can China’s delegation to Davos convince the world that the country will address its current economic challenges more effectively and will remain a constructive factor in the global economy? Under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China embarked on a breathtaking “reform and opening up” reform process that has yet to be completed, as the Third Plenum of 2013 implicitly acknowledged. Whenever serious problems developed in the past, debates on what went wrong, usually focused on the question whether the reforms had relied too much on “regulation by markets” or not enough. Sometimes the prevailing opinion was the latter. But there is a risk of depending too much on regulation by markets. In my view, market fundamentalism – a belief that markets can solve all problems – is definitely wrong, but I also feel that China has not yet exhausted the benefits that market reforms can bring. While markets are terribly important, we should also realize that China needs better institutions to guide the economy and a more genuine “rule-of law” system to support those institutions. No country has ever built a perfect political-economy system and in reality, there will probably never be an end to the need for further reforms. The best China can do in my opinion is to continue the reform process set in motion by Deng Xiaoping and to concentrate especially on institution building. This will contribute to greater domestic and international confidence in China’s economy.

(The author is Former international economist at the World Bank, including four years as chief of the World Bank’s Resident Mission in Beijing.)

 

[Manidabest]

They dont need to convince... Chinese got money and they mean business...

 

[ahojunk]

Xi addresses Davos forum for first time to advance global growth, governance
2017-01-18 08:38 | Xinhua | Editor: Gu Liping

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for joint efforts to chart the course of economic globalization and forge new models of global growth, cooperation, governance and development.

Xi made the remarks while addressing the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is the first Chinese head of state to attend the Davos meetings in Switzerland.

Amid a rising tide of global concerns for protectionism, anti-globalization sentiment and other economic and political issues, Xi's presence with Chinese wisdom and experiences at Davos bears tremendous historic significance, said WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab.


GUIDING GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE

In his keynote keynote speech, Xi stressed the importance of adapting to and guiding economic globalization and delivering its benefits to all.

Blaming economic globalization for the world's problems is inconsistent with reality and unhelpful to solving the problems, Xi said, underlining the need to act pro-actively and manage economic globalization appropriately, so as to release its positive impact and rebalance its process.

Xi called on all countries to follow the general trend, proceed from their respective national conditions, and embark on the right pathway of integrating into economic globalization with the right pace.

He stressed the need to strike a balance between efficiency and equity to ensure that different countries, different social strata and different groups of people all share the benefits of economic globalization.

"President Xi's remarks objectively elaborated the role of globalization in the entire process of human history and suggested that its role should be viewed dialectically," said Zhang Yuyan, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Trade protectionism, populism and nationalism can quell public dissatisfaction for the time being, but in the long run, they will harm the overall interests of all," Zhang said.

Analyzing the root causes of the sluggish global economy, Xi pointed to a lack of robust driving forces for global growth, inadequate global economic governance, and uneven global development.

He stressed the importance of developing a dynamic innovation-driven growth model, a model of open and win-win cooperation featuring a well-coordinated and inter-connected approach, and a model of fair and equitable governance in keeping with the trend of the times, and a balanced, equitable and inclusive development model.

Citing the contributing role his country -- the world's second largest economy -- has played in economic globalization, Xi said China's rapid growth has been a sustained, powerful engine for global economic stability and expansion, and the inter-connected development of China and a large number of other countries has made the world economy more balanced.

China's remarkable achievement in poverty reduction has contributed to more inclusive global growth, and its continuous progress in reform and opening-up has lent much momentum to an open world economy, he added.


CHINA'S COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL GROWTH

Xi pledged that China's development will continue to offer opportunities to business communities in other countries.

In the coming five years, China is expected to import 8 trillion U.S. dollars of goods, attract 600 billion dollars of foreign investment, and make 750 billion dollars of outbound investment, said the president, adding that Chinese tourists will make 700 million overseas visits.

China will keep its door wide open, Xi said, voicing hope that other countries will also keep their door open to Chinese investors and keep the playing field level for them.

"China has been a locomotive of growth, especially for the emerging world, but really for the whole world," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS, a consulting firm. "More positive perspective of China is an accurate one."

On the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi told the audience that China's circle of friends along the Belt and Road is growing bigger, and Chinese investment in the countries along the routes has surpassed 50 billion dollars in the past three years.

Over 100 countries and international organizations have given warm responses and support to the initiative, and more than 40 have signed cooperation agreements with China, said the Chinese president, who put forward the initiative in 2013.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies have launched a number of major projects in the countries along the routes, spurring the economic development of these countries and creating many local jobs, Xi noted.

The Belt and Road Initiative, envisioned as an infrastructure and trade network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes, originated in China, but it has delivered benefits well beyond its borders, he said.

China plans to host a Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing this May to brainstorm on interconnected development, the president announced.

The upcoming forum will explore ways to address regional and global economic problems, generate fresh energy for interconnected development, and ensure that the Belt and Road Initiative delivers greater benefits to the people of the countries involved, Xi said.

Xi arrived in Switzerland on Sunday for a four-day state visit and the WEF annual meeting, which is themed "Responsive and Responsible Leadership" this year and expected to draw together about 50 heads of state and 1,700 political, business, academic and media leaders from across the world.

In his first overseas trip in 2017, Xi will also travel to Lausanne and Geneva to visit the International Olympic Committee, the World Health Organization and the UN Office at Geneva.
.

 

[meis]

World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

China Looms Large as the U.S. Turns Inward
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/china-looms-large-us-turns-inward-geoffrey-garrett

Davos 2017 - Opening Speech with Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China

Alas, Trump didn't make it because he was too busy building walls and nailing the final nail on TPP.

In fact, my friend, all of Confucius sphere from Singapore to Korea and Japan (and China's Taiwan) have had a similar experience of three decades of high growth (9-10% on average).

What makes China's growth spectacular is perhaps:

1. China's sheer size and scope (population and land, which makes a sustained development a more difficult feat)

2. Lack of favorable geopolitical environment which favored hugely Japan and South Korea during their explosive growth.

For us, still, Japan and Korea's industrialization is the benchmark to achieve.

It's an East Asian and Confucianism thing... including the Chinese in Malaysia.

And the moment of hard cold truth...
Evolution, Culture & IQ
https://iq-research.org/en/page/average-iq-by-country
http://www.vdare.com/articles/racial-quotas-in-malaysia-grim-warning-for-america

Why Black Americans have higher average IQ than their brothers in Africa? It's because of white culture. White folks, white culture increased the Black Americans' IQ. Majority White (higher IQ) will improved the minority Black Americans' (lower IQ) IQ.

Same for Malaysia but in reverse effect. Majority Brown Malay Malaysian (lower IQ) dumb downed the minority Chinese Malaysian (higher IQ)... assume if the Chinese joined the Malay society which they DON'T... segregation. So the Chinese Malaysian kept their high IQ.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPNnLfxJ2ybBSGjwTp5RxeBZ3K6vpQp6k