China taking on bigger role, envoy says

As UN readies development goals, Beijing will become a more prominent partner and leader

China is playing an increasingly crucial role in global economic development through its rapid domestic growth and leadership in pushing forward new models and institutions, says Zhou Xiaoming, deputy permanent representative of China's mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

Zhou spoke to China Daily before the UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda, to take place in New York from September 25 to 27.

As the timeframe for the UN Millennium Development Goals reaches an end, to be succeeded by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, China's role is also changing, Zhou says.

The MDG, covering development between 2000 and 2015, had eight objectives pinpointing issues that pose the biggest challenges in developing countries such as poverty reduction, primary education, gender equality, child mortality and maternal health.

The SDG, focusing on development between 2015 and 2030, has a wider agenda of 17 tasks including sustainable economic growth, infrastructure development, combating climate change, ecosystem conservation and the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies.

Over the past few decades, China has made significant contributions to the MDG agenda, the UN says, given the speed of China's economic development and the fact that it has one-fifth of the world's population.

Between 1990 and 2005, more than 470 million people in China were lifted out of extreme poverty, according to a United Nations Development Programme report issued this year.

As the world's development goals change, China's role and contribution in promoting global growth is also transforming.

Whereas previously China's contribution to global development mainly focused on its own development and helping developing countries to grow, China now has more influence on global growth and its actions are able to influence developed economies as well.

Also, there is a qualitative change to China's contribution, because increasing economic strength means China is now participating more in the rule-making process of the world and this contributes to creating a better economic regulatory system, leading to a better environment for global growth, Zhou says.

"China has a tradition of helping other nations, but as it grows as an important economy, its ability to contribute is growing. Importantly China is taking leadership of multilateral institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and BRICS Development Bank, which will serve as catalysts for global development," Zhou says.

The AIIB is an international financial institution focused on supporting infrastructure construction in the Asia-Pacific region. Proposed by China, the bank now is supported by 37 regional and 20 non-regional member countries.

The BRICS Development Bank, also known as New Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank operated by BRICS states as an alternative or complement to the existing US and European-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

"China's contribution to these multinational institutions will lead to more finance invested into urgently needed infrastructure, and meanwhile it will create a certain level of competition for existing global multilateral institutions to make them more efficient," Zhou says.

The AIIB, for example, will benefit from its leadership by emerging economies, which is unique because it is then able to understand the concerns and challenges of many other developing countries, increasing its ability to contribute to solutions that can accurately and appropriately address these concerns.

By coming up with suitable methods of cooperation, the AIIB itself could be leaner and more responsive to opportunities, and it will set a good example for other multilateral institutions, Zhou says.

"Institutions such as BRICS Bank and AIIB are good additions to the existing multinational institutions, and complement the work of existing institutions, as opposed to alternatives," Zhou says.

Meanwhile, many of China's own strategic policies will be catalysts for global economic growth, and one good example is China's Belt and Road Initiative, Zhou says.

"The initiative will lead to a large financial injection into building trade route-related infrastructure in other countries, creating development and employment opportunities for these countries, and spillover economic effect for other countries."

Proposed by President Xi Jinping in October 2013 when he visited Central and Southeast Asia, the initiative consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

The "belt" includes countries situated on the ancient overland Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The initiative calls for the integration of the region into a cohesive economic area through building infrastructure, increasing cultural exchanges, and broadening trade.

The "road' is a similar idea, investing and fostering collaboration in Southeast Asia, Oceania and North Africa, through several contiguous bodies of water - the South China Sea, the South Pacific Ocean and the wider Indian Ocean area.

"China is investing heavily in this initiative. Not only will it create crucial infrastructure like transport, telecommunications and energy resources that businesses can use, it will also increase productive capacity and efficiency of business activities. It will create great cooperation opportunities for businesses globally."

Zhou says China has traditionally helped other countries grow, as demonstrated by China's aid in the 1970s for construction of the Tazara Railway in East Africa linking the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with the town of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central province.

"At the time, China was a very poor country but it sent about 30,000 to 40,000 workers to build this railway. Our contribution and help toward other countries is really done in a selfless manner," he says.

As China reformed and opened up, its assistance for development projects in other developing regions also grew, and one big contribution China has made is also to share its growth experiences and growth models with others, helping them to grow fast, too, Zhou says.

"In more recent years, as China's economic power has grown, its ability to help others has also increased, and this is reflected in both China's aid toward other countries and its leadership of regional cooperation, South-South cooperation and the setting up of new multilateral institutions."

In particular, China's commitment to combating climate change is significant, especially demonstrated by its determination to reduce emissions in absolute amounts from 2030 onwards and to make nonfossil fuel resources 20 percent of its energy consumption sources.

"Such large-scale reduction of emissions is driven by China's domestic need to create a cleaner atmosphere, but also by the country's realization of its increasing responsibility to contribute toward matters of global significance."

Another example is the opening up and reform of China's markets, which have created opportunities for foreign companies to expand into China and access growth opportunities against the background of the global economic slowdown in recent years, he says.

In the financial markets, China's currency, the renminbi, is on track to become a major international currency, providing global investors another stable world reserve currency to help them diversify risks away from existing reserve currencies like the US dollar and the euro, he says.

"As China's financial market becomes increasingly large, its level of impact is no longer domestic but global, and as such China needs to take measures to ensure stability and sustainable growth for the benefit of itself and the international market."

From a historical perspective, China's interests are deeply aligned with other developing nations, as is reflected by its strategic alliance with the Group of 77 at the UN, which created the G77+China partnership in 1964, Zhou says.

The G77 is a loose coalition of developing nations designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the UN.

With China emerging onto the world stage as an increasingly important player, the mentality of win-win cooperation central to China's internationalization strategy is of crucial significance, Zhou says.

"The way China grows in overseas markets is mainly through cooperation, so its investment will benefit local markets and local employment. And recognizing our economic strength, sometimes we will even put the gains of our partner countries ahead of our own benefits."

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 09/25/2015 page23)