Xi's speech builds consensus for Asia-Pacific cooperation, injects impetus into global recovery

BEIJING - President Xi Jinping's proposals on deepening regional cooperation at the 28th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting build consensus to overcome difficulties, and inject impetus into global economic recovery, overseas experts have said.

Promoting the building of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future is especially important, said Bambang Suryono, chairman of Asia Innovation Study Center, an Indonesian think tank.

For the Asia-Pacific region, Suryono said, the current top priority is to work together to fight the pandemic.

While China is doing its best to prevent and control the epidemic at home, it is actively providing assistance to countries in the Asia-Pacific region, said Suryono, adding that China's proposition is not only conducive to promoting economic recovery in the region, but will also promote prosperity and stability worldwide.

China has taken concrete actions to implement the vision of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, said the expert.

Upholding multilateralism to foster a more open Asia-Pacific economy is like an obvious choice, said Vo Dai Luoc, former head of the Hanoi-based Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

"As China is now a major country in the world, and so far the most successful in containing COVID-19, developing countries are looking forward to China's help in both pandemic fighting and economic recovery," said the expert.

Noting that Xi proposed to promote innovation-driven development, Cen Zhiwei, economics professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, said "Xi's proposal is of enlightening and historic significance to the future development and peaceful co-existence of the Asia-Pacific region."

James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, pointed out that the pandemic has driven the trend of digitalization of economy and e-commerce.

China is becoming more important in the region, not only because it is one of the biggest traders in the region, but also because "China is by far the global leader in that trade (e-commerce)," said Laurenceson.

Gu Qingyang, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, agreed with Xi's speech on pursuing "inclusive and sustainable development," saying it is an important direction for global development.

China has made great efforts in green development, which is an important contribution to the global response to climate change and the promotion of green development, said Gu.