BOAO: The opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2024 was held in Boao, South China’s Hainan Province on Thursday, with China’s top legislator Zhao Leji stressing China’s economic potential, appealing to international investors and calling for Asia solidarity and cooperation for regional prosperity in his keynote speech at the forum.
Zhao Leji, the chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, highlighted that China is pursuing a path of high-quality development and is deepening reform and opening up, which he said will provide great development opportunities for Asia and the world.
China has set an economic growth target of around five percent for 2024 and the country’s GDP grew by 5.2 percent last year, one of the highest among major economies. The Chinese economy has accounted for about one-third of global growth, and the International Monetary Fund last year projected that a 1 percentage point increase in GDP growth in China will lead to a 0.3 percentage point increase in other Asian economies.
To transform its economy and achieve sustainable development, China now is deepening reforms. For example, China has pledged to further shorten the negative list for foreign investment, remove all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector and deliver national treatment for foreign businesses.
On March 22, the Chinese Commerce Ministry rolled out the first negative list for cross-border trade in service sectors at the national level, in which sectors that are not listed are, by default, open to foreign service suppliers under the same conditions as for domestic service suppliers, a major step for China’s further opening up.
China also promised to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Official data shows that China’s installed solar capacity accounted for nearly half of the world’s, the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) registered in China accounts for over half of the world’s and at least 25 percent of the foliage expansion since the early 2000s globally came from China. Zhao said China’s green and low-carbon development is expected to nurture a 10-trillion-yuan (about $1.4 trillion) market for investment and consumption each year.
In addition, new drivers of China’s economy resulting from tech innovation are also growing fast. At the just concluded China Development Forum, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said the added value of China’s strategic emerging industries increased from 7.6 percent of GDP 10 years ago to more than 13 percent last year, the scale of China’s digital economy has exceeded 50 trillion yuan, and China has as many as 24 of the world’s top 100 sci-tech innovation clusters.
“The potential of China’s supersized market with over 1.4 billion people will be further unlocked,” said Zhao. “Investing in China is investing in the future.”
Zhao also expressed optimism for Asia’s development at the forum, saying it’s the “most dynamic and promising” region in the world, but he warned that protectionism and a cold-war mindset are undercutting some countries’ efforts for development and pushing the world toward division and confrontation.
A report published by BFA Academy on Tuesday predicted that the Asian economy will sustain a strong growth rate in 2024, accounting for 49 percent of the world’s GDP, and its growth rate is expected to reach 4.5 percent.
Although the growth of Asia may face pressures from a global economic slowdown, geopolitical conflict and other factors, positive factors including accelerated digital trade, recovery of tourism and advancements of regional economic integration such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will add new impetus to Asian trade and investment, the report predicted.
Zhao stressed that peace is a prerequisite for Asia’s development in the face of intertwined and complex global security threats. He called on Asian nations to stay united, jointly stand against unilateralism and extreme egotism, oppose confrontation between different camps, and prevent the region and the world from becoming an arena for geopolitical fighting.
During the 2022 Boao Forum, China proposed the Global Security Initiative, promoting the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. A year earlier, China proposed the Global Development Initiative which promotes globalization, multilateralism and free trade, aiming to build a just, equitable, open and inclusive world.
“No country is able to develop itself behind closed doors,” said Zhao, adding “We must oppose trade protectionism and all forms of erecting barriers, decoupling or severing supply chains, but instead share opportunities in opening up and seek win-win outcomes through cooperation.”
Foreign executives, officials bullish on Chinese economy in Boao
During a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference, executives from foreign-funded enterprises and officials from international institutions said they remained bullish on China’s economic growth in 2024, noting that innovation, consumption and green development will constitute a new China story.
As the world’s second-largest economy and important growth engine for the world economy, China’s development has attracted much attention. The remarks by the participants at the BFA strongly denied the so-called Peak China rhetoric, as the country’s economy is on course to recover.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French prime minister, said that China’s 2024 growth target of about 5 percent is good, and the world economy needs China’s growth, as well as its innovation.
Steven Barnett, the IMF’s senior resident representative in China, said that last year, China’s economy contributed one third of global growth, and its growth is beneficial to the world.
Every one percentage point rise in China’s GDP growth will drive an increase of 0.3 percentage points in the economic growth of other countries, so strong GDP growth in China is not only good for China, but also for the rest of the world.
Regarding this year’s GDP growth target, Denis Depoux, global managing director of Roland Berger, said that the figure is not important in itself, more important thing is the transformation that is represented underneath the 5 percent goal.
There are some main themes to the new China story: innovation, new quality productive forces, decarbonization and consumption.
This photo taken on March 25, 2024 shows the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) International Conference Center in Boao, South China’s Hainan Province, is ready for the upcoming forum. The BFA Annual Conference 2024 will be held from March 26 to 29 in Boao, focusing on how the international community can work together to deal with common challenges and shoulder their responsibilities.Â
Multinational companies, which have benefited from China’s double-digit average economic growth rate in past decades, now eye more opportunities in the Chinese market, including industrial upgrading and green development, Depoux said.
Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, told the Global Times that China’s economic growth has made a positive contribution to regional and global development.
He has observed that China is moving some of its manufacturing into other countries in Asia that may appear lower on the manufacturing chain and are still behind the development curve. This change is a win-win for both China and other Asian countries, the Italian scholar said.
While praising China’s huge achievements in the green economy, Geraci said that this is one of the key areas for future economic cooperation between Europe and China. He called for China-EU cooperation in the green transition.
“The other area for such cooperation is the development of infrastructure in third countries, such as in Asia and in Africa. In the developing markets of Africa, for example, China has a strong presence and European companies, including Italian ones, can bring complementary expertise,” said Geraci.
Since the beginning of this year, China’s economic fundamentals have continued to improve, and positive factors bolstering the economic rebound have accumulated and increased.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in the first two months, the value added of industries over the designated size grew by 7 percent year-on-year, retail sales rose by 5.5 percent, investment in the manufacturing industry increased by 9.4 percent, and total trade grew by 8.7 percent, ushering in a promising year.
“If China’s economy maintains a growth rate of at least 5 percent this year, it would be feasible to achieve a contribution rate of 30 percent or more to global economic growth, provided that the exchange rate remains relatively stable,” Tian Yun, a Beijing-based economist, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“If trade with the US follows the recovery seen in January and February, it would significantly boost the Chinese economy. In addition, residential consumption holds significant potential to support economic growth,” Tian noted.
If consumer spending and investment flourish, achieving a 5 percent growth rate this year is attainable, given ample market opportunities and robust production capabilities of China, Tian said.
