Forum: China is crucial to maintaining world order

China is playing a prominent role in supporting globalization and in fulfilling its global responsibility as rising protectionism and challenges affect the world order formed after World War II, scholars said.

They expressed the opinions at the two-day forum hosted by the China Institute of Reform and Development in Haikou, Hainan province. The forum ended on Sunday.

David Gosset, founder of the Europe-China Forum, warned of four major challenges to future global development. He proposed that the world attach great importance to demographic changes, the rapid development of technologies like artificial intelligence, geopolitical changes and the influence of power dispersal.

In terms of the new stage of China's reform and opening-up, Gosset asserted, "China's renaissance is unstoppable. Europeans and Americans need to adapt to the changes in the world order with China as the center."

In discussing how to react to the retreat of economic globalization, Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily,told the forum that economic globalization is an inevitable trend of human development, and it is just experiencing a hard time now.

Although economic globalization was initially dominated by developed countries, developing countries have been trying to move to the front of the industry chain. In fact, that trend is unstoppable.

"The train of economic globalization has not only left the platform, but it will never stop," said Zhou.

Zhou added that before the unprecedented turbulent situation, countries need to calm down, persist in deepening reform and opening-up, and actively build the human community a with shared future.

The rise of protectionism and unilateralism were also main worries of most experts.

Shada Islam, director of Europe & Geopolitics, Friends of Europe in Brussels suggested that both China and Europe have achieved tremendously over the past 40 years, but they  also face difficulties like China's transformation and Brexit in Europe.

"Under such a background, China and Europe can work together to promote further reform and opening-up," she said.

She also said that as the United States had withdrawn form various international agreements, China and the EU can jointly reinforce the rule-based multilateral order internationally by accelerating WTO modernization, EU-China connectivity strategy, mutual investment and digital cooperation.

China's market economy status was once controversial among several countries. To clarify this, Liu Shijin, vice-chairman, China Development Research Foundation, said that China is now a low-level, imperfect market economy. At present,the pursuit of a high-quality market economy and a high level of openness is urgent.

Establishing such a goal will enable China to take the initiative in solving the Sino-US trade frictions and in the changes of international trade rules, he said.

"For the progress of human society,the market economy is the common choice," said Liu.

"A market economy is not a patent of the Western countries. China has every reason and right to raise the banner of developing a high-quality market economy even higher."

Cao Yuanzheng, board chairman, Research Corporation of BOC International, said the whole world order is under adjustment, and the Sino-US trade frictions are just a part of it. Instead of panicking, the world should consider how to resolve the problem.

"This year, China will become the largest market globally," Cao said.

"If this market can be shared by the world, the pattern of Sino-US trade friction will be changed, and globalization will be defended."