Yahoo! News - Asia discusses cooperation at Boao, but China casts long shadow
Asia discusses cooperation at Boao, but China casts long shadow
Sat Apr 23, 2:20 AM ET
BOAO, China (AFP) - Businesspeople and officials meeting in the south Chinese resort town of Boao were discussing ways to promote economic cooperation in Asia, but the host nation cast a long shadow.
AFP Photo
The emergence of China as an economic power with huge regional clout formed the background of the debate, and many remarks dwelled on the issue of whether China should be seen as a threat, challenge or opportunity.
China's fourth most powerful leader, Jia Qinglin, sought to reassure the region about its voracious economy, promising that even in 2020 imports would only make up a small proportion of its energy consumption.
"We should be aware that China is not just a big energy consumer, it's also major producer of energy," Jia told the Boao Forum for Asia.
"Imports only account for a small part of China's energy consumption ... according to our estimate, in the year 2020, the imported energy will only account for a small proportion of all the energy consumed by the country."
While China is not going to decrease its energy consumption, a combination of conservation and search for additional energy resources will keep China supplied mainly by domestic sources, he argued.
Leading Chinese scholar Zheng Bijian struck a similar note at the start of the talks, telling China's neighbors they had nothing to fear.
"We will neither seek hegemony, nor claim hegemony, neither act as a leader nor become a vassal," said Zheng, chairman of think tank China Reform Forum.
While the Boao Forum for Asia is being touted as a non-governmental event, it is widely believed that the Chinese leadership hopes it will evolve into a regional counterpart of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Adding to the argument that China was more of an opportunity for the region, the Boao forum issued a report suggesting that the opening of its economy had been overwhelmingly beneficial for the region.
In fact, China's economic reforms had done more to boost intra-regional trade than the efforts of regional organizations such as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, according to the report, Economic Integration in Asia.
Hong Kong's caretaker leader Donald Tsang Saturday said there was an "overwhelming" case for a single Asian currency, but that the objective had to be attained in a step-by-step manner.
"The case for a single Asian currency is overwhelming," he told the Boao gathering, but added: "We must learn to walk before we can run."
He pointed out that the vast diversity of the Asian economies made it an extremely difficult task to bring about a single currency in the region.
"We must create the conditions for greater free trade in financial services before we can even begin to talk about monetary integration," he said.
He urged Asian governments to remove hurdles to increased trade in financial services as a first step towards the eventual objective of a single currency in Asia.
Yahoo! News - Asia discusses cooperation at Boao, but China casts long shadow
Sat Apr 23, 2:20 AM ET
BOAO, China (AFP) - Businesspeople and officials meeting in the south Chinese resort town of Boao were discussing ways to promote economic cooperation in Asia, but the host nation cast a long shadow.
AFP Photo
The emergence of China as an economic power with huge regional clout formed the background of the debate, and many remarks dwelled on the issue of whether China should be seen as a threat, challenge or opportunity.
China's fourth most powerful leader, Jia Qinglin, sought to reassure the region about its voracious economy, promising that even in 2020 imports would only make up a small proportion of its energy consumption.
"We should be aware that China is not just a big energy consumer, it's also major producer of energy," Jia told the Boao Forum for Asia.
"Imports only account for a small part of China's energy consumption ... according to our estimate, in the year 2020, the imported energy will only account for a small proportion of all the energy consumed by the country."
While China is not going to decrease its energy consumption, a combination of conservation and search for additional energy resources will keep China supplied mainly by domestic sources, he argued.
Leading Chinese scholar Zheng Bijian struck a similar note at the start of the talks, telling China's neighbors they had nothing to fear.
"We will neither seek hegemony, nor claim hegemony, neither act as a leader nor become a vassal," said Zheng, chairman of think tank China Reform Forum.
While the Boao Forum for Asia is being touted as a non-governmental event, it is widely believed that the Chinese leadership hopes it will evolve into a regional counterpart of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Adding to the argument that China was more of an opportunity for the region, the Boao forum issued a report suggesting that the opening of its economy had been overwhelmingly beneficial for the region.
In fact, China's economic reforms had done more to boost intra-regional trade than the efforts of regional organizations such as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, according to the report, Economic Integration in Asia.
Hong Kong's caretaker leader Donald Tsang Saturday said there was an "overwhelming" case for a single Asian currency, but that the objective had to be attained in a step-by-step manner.
"The case for a single Asian currency is overwhelming," he told the Boao gathering, but added: "We must learn to walk before we can run."
He pointed out that the vast diversity of the Asian economies made it an extremely difficult task to bring about a single currency in the region.
"We must create the conditions for greater free trade in financial services before we can even begin to talk about monetary integration," he said.
He urged Asian governments to remove hurdles to increased trade in financial services as a first step towards the eventual objective of a single currency in Asia.
Yahoo! News - Asia discusses cooperation at Boao, but China casts long shadow
posted by Eastlaw @ 9:36 PM
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