Xinhua Insight: Chinese wisdom points direction for Asia-Pacific development

A new China-proposed approach to Asia-Pacific economic development has the potential to support the sustainable and robust growth of the regional economy and help the wider global economic recovery.

On Nov. 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, the fourth time he has attended the meeting during his presidency, explaining the concepts of reform and innovation, openness and inclusiveness, connectivity, and win-win cooperation.

In the midst of a global economy downturn, reform and innovation are being heralded as the solution to lackluster economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

In his keynote speech at the APEC CEO summit on Nov. 19, Xi told the 21 APEC member economies that reform and innovation should be developed, as they are powerful internal driving force.

According to Zhong Feiteng, a research fellow on Asia-Pacific and global strategy from the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), Chinese innovation is inspiring for many Asia-Pacific economies.

The APEC member economies should innovate on business model and science and technology, and enhance innovation ability on emerging industries like Internet economy and green economy, to upgrade the economic structure, said Liu Chenyang, director of the APEC research center in Tianjin-based Nankai University.

While reform and innovation aim to unlock internal economic growth impetus, openness and inclusiveness will create a favorable external environment for Asia-Pacific economies.

In his APEC speeches, President Xi has repeatedly called for an integrated and open regional economy, which has long been a key support for Asia-Pacific economic growth but is currently threatened by the emergence of trade protectionism and fragmented regional trade arrangements.

Acting as an institutional mechanism to guarantee an open regional economy, a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) process was launched at the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing.

A report on the FTAAP was approved by economic leaders this year in Lima.

Only through openness and inclusiveness can the economies in the region get rid of unilateralism, bridge the gaps of differences, build up consensus, and, thus, develop jointly, said Liu from Nankai University.

Another essential base for regional joint development lies in the connectivity and cooperation within the region, which are yet not fully exploited due to uneven economic development.

At the Beijing APEC meeting, a Connectivity Blueprint for 2015-2025, which promised tangible action on physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity, was adopted, while China also suggested the establishment of Asia-Pacific Partnership to deepen regional economic, business and cultural cooperation.

As a goal of regional cooperation, balanced and win-win development is also an important international political concept championed by the Chinese government, according to Zhong from CASS.

Through various proposals, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, China has been playing a positive role in creating shared interests for regional economies along with its own development.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was released in 2013, Chinese companies had built 52 economic and trade cooperation zones in the Belt and Road countries, generating tax revenue of 900 million U.S. dollars and nearly 70,000 jobs for these countries, by July this year.

"To build a community of common interests, responsibility and destiny based on innovation, openness and connectivity, and thus realize balanced and win-win development -- this is a life picture of Chinese Dream and Asia-Pacific Dream," said Gao Fei, a professor from Beijing-based China Foreign Affairs University. Endi