Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech on Tuesday at the opening plenary of the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.[Special coverage]
Here are 10 quick takeaways from the 50-minute address, which touched upon globalization, protectionism, world economy and China's development among other subjects.
1. Many of the problems troubling the world are not caused by economic globalization. Just blaming economic globalization for the world's problems is inconsistent with reality, and it will not help solve the problems.
2. Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies, and channel the waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible. Indeed, it runs counter to the historical trend.
3. At present, the most pressing task before us is to steer the global economy out of difficulty.
4. Lack of robust driving forces for global growth makes it difficult to sustain the steady growth of the global economy; inadequate global economic governance makes it difficult to adapt to new developments in the global economy; uneven global development makes it difficult to meet people's expectations for better lives.
5. The world should develop a dynamic, innovation-driven growth model; pursue a well-coordinated and inter-connected approach to develop a model of open and win-win cooperation; develop a model of fair and equitable governance in keeping with the trend of the times; and develop a balanced, equitable and inclusive development model.
6. Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.
7. The Paris Agreement is a hard-won achievement which is in keeping with the underlying trend of global development. All signatories should stick to it instead of walking away from it as this is a responsibility we must assume for future generations.
8. China has become the world's second largest economy thanks to 38 years of reform and opening-up. A right path leads to a bright future. China has come this far because the Chinese people have, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, blazed a development path that suits China's actual conditions.
9. China will strive to enhance the performance of economic growth; boost market vitality to add new impetus to growth; foster an enabling and orderly environment for investment; and vigorously foster an external environment of opening-up for common development.
10. In May this year, China will host in Beijing the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which aims to discuss ways to boost cooperation, build cooperation platforms and share cooperation outcomes. The forum will also explore ways to address problems facing global and regional economy, create fresh energy for pursuing inter-connected development and make the Belt and Road Initiative deliver greater benefits to people of countries involved.
