Bigger role sought for nation in global economic talks

Chinese think tank researchers are calling for a more active approach to the country's foreign economic relations in contributing ideas to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

They are calling for the government, as the representative of the world's second-largest economy, largest developing country and a rapidly rising power, to seek a more prominent role in all global economic negotiations.

Li Anfang, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, even proposed setting up a new high-level commission, more powerful than the Ministry of Commerce, to coordinate policies in the nation's increasingly diverse and complex foreign business affairs.