Collective efforts shape resilient global economy

During the past four years, there has been a rise in the tide of anti-globalization, accompanied by evident increases in unilateralism and protectionism. Various destabilizing, unpredictable and unforeseeable factors have emerged, posing unprecedented risks and challenges to the global economy.

Against such a backdrop, the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, which took place in Tianjin late last month, aimed to lead the international community in jointly exploring ways to address global economic risks and challenges, and together shape a more equitable, sustainable and resilient global economy.

Decoupling triggers risks

In the process of economic globalization, economies around the world have become more closely interconnected. In this regard, factors including production efficiency, growth potential and development opportunities are no longer matters of a single country, but represent shared global concerns.

However, economic globalization also comes with growing challenges from imbalances in global development, governance difficulties and persistent equity issues. It should also be noted that these challenges are not inevitable consequences of the process, but rather the accumulation of various barriers that hinder it and a result of the weakening of the multilateral trade mechanisms that underpin a stable world economy.

The key to addressing such challenges lies in building a higher level, more open world economy and firmly promoting economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, equitable, balanced and mutually beneficial way.

In recent years, the world has witnessed a slew of "black swan" and "gray rhino" events, which have caused tremendous impacts on the global economy. When facing mounting risks and obstacles, certain countries have chosen to politicize economic and trade matters, as well as pursue decoupling and fragmentation, leading to confrontations and conflicts and significantly disrupting the security and stability of global supply chains.

These actions appear to aim at reverting the global economy back to a bygone era of isolation — a strategy that has already been proved by past experience to have failed to mitigate global risks and instead further endanger an already precarious global economy. Countries adopting hegemonic and coercive moves not only raise economic risks for others, but also expose their own economies to a high level of vulnerability.

Cooperation only way out

Resources are not the only thing to have become highly interconnected between countries in the context of globalization — risks are the same, because economic problems and crises within one country can rapidly spread and evolve into global economic concerns. This is why, global challenges require collective efforts, and unity and cooperation are the only way out for global risk management.

Take for example the global financial crisis of 2007-09 triggered by the United States subprime mortgage crisis, where the international community learned how important strengthening unity and cooperation is to crisis response.

Many financial institutions collapsed at that time, resulting in widespread unemployment and a global economic recession. Therefore, leaders of the G20 held an initial meeting in Washington in November 2008 to address the serious financial issues and they came up with a clear and efficient cooperative mechanism in the end.

The following year, G20 leaders held two additional summits in quick succession, reaching an important consensus on promoting global economic recovery and opposing protectionism. Thanks to the close cooperation among major economies in the aftermath of the crisis, the global economy achieved a rapid rebound and gradually got back on the right track.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused one of the most severe global economic downturns since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Besides its lingering impact, the global economy also faces policy risks from certain major economies prioritizing their own interests. The accumulation of other factors — such as global debt burden, heightened financial market turbulence, food and energy shortages, disruptions in industrial and supply chains, and frequent climate disasters — have shown how multifaceted current global economic risks can be. Making the right choices, once again, tests the wisdom of all humanity.

At this year's Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, political and business leaders from various countries and regions confronted global risk challenges and ignited sparks of unity and cooperation, undoubtedly injecting new momentum into the global economy.

China brings opportunities

Unlike the "reducing dependence "or "de-risking" approaches advocated by some countries, China has consistently promoted closer and mutually beneficial interactions with the world, continuously bringing certainty to the global arena through its long-term stable development.

Over the years, China has actively participated in and promoted the process of economic globalization, stimulating the vitality and creativity of market entities, improving the business environment and developing a higher level, more open economy. This has led to an open pattern of internal and external connectivity and mutually beneficial cooperation between the East and the West.

It has also taken the lead in opening-up and promoting mutual openness among countries and regions worldwide, facilitating an efficient, orderly and secure flow of various factors in global production networks. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, it actively implements global development, civilization and security initiatives to build a community with a shared future for humanity.

Therefore, China's stable and positive economic performance presents opportunities rather than risks to the world. According to a World Bank report, from 2013 to 2021, China contributed an average of 38.6 percent to global economic growth — more than the combined contribution of the Group of Seven member countries. This undoubtedly serves as the primary driving force for global growth.

With its strong resilience and abundant potential, the basic trend of steady long-term growth for China's economy remains unchanged, despite the sustained deterioration of the global economic environment.

According to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects released in June, China's economy will grow by 5.6 percent in 2023, 3.5 percentage points higher than the global growth rate and an upward revision of 1.3 percentage points compared to the organization's January forecast.

To address challenges faced by the global economy and enhance confidence in global economic growth, the country will continue adhering to the principles of communication, cooperation and shared benefits, providing more opportunities for dialogue and cooperation to the international community. As the world's second-largest consumer market and the largest goods trading nation, it will also continue to promote a high-level trade and investment environment for partners worldwide, and make greater contributions to global growth and the security of industrial and supply chains.

The writer is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.