Policy brings 'profound' change for country, rest of world, says vice-president

China's reform and opening-up over the past four decades brought about deep changes in the country and had a profound impact on the rest of the world, and the door will only open even wider, Vice-President Wang Qishan said on Monday.

Wang was addressing the 2018 Imperial Springs International Forum in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The event was attended by more than 200 former officials, heads of international organizations, academics and business leaders.

China has made the choice of further opening-up based on its development needs, Wang said.

He placed this "glorious chapter" in Chinese history against the backdrop of socialist exploration in the three decades before the opening-up, the struggle for rejuvenation since 1840 and the ups and downs of five millennia of history.

"Only a people who have created glories understand the meaning of rejuvenation. Only a people who have undergone hardships have a keen longing for rejuvenation," Wang said.

He called for efforts to adapt to and guide the country's economic globalization, diminish negative impacts, safeguard the rules-based multilateral trade system, and strengthen discussion and cooperation to jointly build an open world economy of an innovative and inclusive nature.

China stands for building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and it promotes building a community with a shared future for mankind featuring sustained peace and common prosperity, Wang noted.

China will always take the role of a constructor of world peace, contributor to global development and upholder of the world order, he said.

Before the forum, Wang spoke with Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former president of Latvia and current president of the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid.

Created in 2014, the annual forum is jointly hosted this year by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Australia China Friendship and Exchange Association, the Guangdong provincial government and the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid.

Participants shared views on China's reform and opening-up and global governance at the two-day forum, which ends Tuesday.

liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/11/2018 page3)