China Daily Weekly - 09.08.2019

ByZHAOJINPING

T

enyears after the global

financial crisis, the world

economyonce again

stands at a crossroad. It

showed some signs of recoveryin

20 17,yet tended to weaken in 2 0 18.

The reason is mainlythe protec-

tionism and unilateralism of some

countries, primarilythe United

States, which has led to an increase

in international trade and invest-

ment disputes, that have in turn

affected the global industrial struc-

ture and financial stability.

The current problems in the

world economyhighlight the

importance and urgencyof

strengthening policycoordination

and cooperation in global gover-

nance platforms such as the G2 0 ,

and put forward new requirements

for the policychoices of countries,

especiallymajor economies.

New impetus for world eco-

nomic growth needs to be explored

through reform and innovation.

The lack of new growth drivers is

the main reason for the current

weak global economic growth.

Driven byemerging technologies

such as cloud computing, the inter-

net of things, artificial intelligence

and nano technology,anewindus-

trial revolution is underway.Coun-

tries need to accelerate reforms,

encourage and protect the innova-

tions of enterprises and allow inno-

vation results to be widelyapplied

to benefit more countries and more

people.

Improved global governance is

needed to promote an open envi-

ronment for innovation. In recent

years, some real progress has

been made in global governance

reforms, such as the establishment

of the G2 0 after the outbreak of

the international financial crisis.

However, in manyimportant areas,

the existing governance institutions

have not evolved to meet the needs

of the times. Reform of the World

Trade Organization is necessary,to

ensure the effectiveness of multilat-

eraltrade rules, regulate the trade

policies of all members and con-

strain trade protectionism.

The spirit of partnership should

always be kept in mind, and dif-

ferences should be handled prop-

erly. Facing the complex and ever-

changing global market environ-

ment and potential risks, countries

should adhere to this spirit, actively

coordinate their macroeconomic

policies and effectivelycontrol their

differences and risks to ensure the

long-term stabilityand prosperity

of the world economy.

In the late 192 0 s, individual

countries unilaterallyimposed

import tariffs for their own inter-

ests, triggering tariff wars and

continuing the global economic

recession for manyyears. This pain-

ful lesson tells us that the more

serious the crisis, the more we need

to strengthen cooperation. The key

is to respect and trust each other,

negotiate on an equal footing, seek

common ground while shelving

differences, expand consensus, and

jointlyseek solutions to problems.

At the G2 0 Summit in Osaka

in June, President Xi Jinping

announced thatChina will further

open up its market, activelyexpand

imports, continuouslyimprove

the business environment, fully

implement equal treatment and

vigorouslypromote economic and

trade negotiations. These five major

initiatives areChina’s contribution

to help build a high-qualityworld

economy.

In recentyears,China has imple-

mented a new round of high-level

opening up and promoted the for-

mation of a new pattern of compre-

hensive opening-up. The 2 0 18 edi-

tion of the negative lists for foreign

investment access were reduced by

about three-fourths compared with

the 2 0 11 editions. The 2 0 19 editions

further shorten the lists and further

open up the agricultural, mining,

manufacturing and service sectors,

providing an important opportu-

nityfor foreign-invested companies

to share inChina’s huge market

and development dividends.

China will activelyexpand

imports to make tangible contribu-

tions to global economic growth.

In 2 0 18,China’s imports of goods

reached $2.1 trillion, an increase of

15.8 percent.China’s expansion of

imports is a tangible contribution

to the growth of its partners and

the world economy,asitcanbe

directlytranslated into the needs

for production and exports of its

trading partners.

China has a huge market of

nearly1.4 billion people and a mid-

dle-income population comprising

more than 4 00 million people.As

the level of economic development

increases, the middle-income group

will also expand and there will be

huge growth in the demand for for-

eign goods and services.

China will continue to improve

the business environment and fur-

ther improve the level of intellec-

tual propertyprotection. In recent

years,China has taken the interna-

tional high-level business environ-

ment evaluation standard as its

benchmark, continuouslystrength-

ened infrastructure construction,

and launched reform to streamline

administration to improve its busi-

ness environment.

The WorldBank’s 2 0 19 Doing

Business Report shows thatChina’s

business environment has improved

significantly, moving up from 78th

in 2 0 18 to the 46th in the rankings

of 19 0 economies, with significant

improvement made in most sub-

indices. The new foreign investment

legal system to be implemented

on Jan 1 nextyear will introduce

a tort punitive damages system,

strengthen civil judicial and crimi-

nal protection and improve the level

ofintellectual propertyprotection,

which will elevateChina’s business

environment to a higher level.

China will also fullyimplement

equal treatment for all types of

enterprises. The Foreign Invest-

ment Law, which will be imple-

mented on Jan 1 nextyear, estab-

lishes a pre-entrynational treat-

ment plus negative list manage-

ment system in the form of national

legislation. It clearlystipulates that

“issues not included in the negative

list for foreign investment access

will be treated based on the princi-

ple of equal treatment for domestic

and foreign investment”.

This means thatChina will

completelyabolish market access

restrictions except on its negative

lists, and that in the post-access

stage, all types of enterprises regis-

tered inChina will be treated equal-

ly. The complaints mechanism for

foreign-funded enterprises is also to

be further strengthened. This will

undoubtedlycreate a more stable,

transparent, predictable and fair

market environment.

The author is former director-

general of the Research Department

of Foreign Economic Relations at

the Development Research Center

of the State Council and chief

economist of Development Research

Think Tank. The author contributed

this article to China Watch, a think

tank powered byChina Daily. The

views do not necessarilyreflect

those of China Daily.

Complexandever-changingglobalenvironmentcallsforcountriestocoordinatetheirpolicies

ByNYONGESALEMMY

D

uring theChina-Africa

Water Forum held in July

in Windhoek, Namibia,

theChinese ambassador

to Namibia noted the importance

toAfrica of having a partnership

in overcoming its persistent water

shortages.

Resolving the water crisis inAfri-

ca is part of theBeijingAction Plan

(2 0 19-21) under the umbrella of the

Forum onChina-AfricaCooperation.

The plan outlines measures to

build and develop aChina-Africa

ResearchCenter for cooperation in

scientific research and training of

professionals in water-related disci-

plines geared toward treatment and

production of clean and safe drink-

ing water.

The program aims at research

and dissemination of knowledge in

creation of artificial rainfall, desali-

nation, rainwater purification, water

recycling, and water-saving irriga-

tion technologies, among others.

The United Nations World

Water Development Report 2 019

estimates that more than 2 billion

people worldwide lack access to

safe and clean water.

In 2 010 , the UN GeneralAssem-

blyresolved that inabilityto get

safe and clean drinking water and

sanitation is part of the growing

bodyof human rights concerns,

and therefore countries have an

obligation to tryto achieve “univer-

sal access to water and sanitation

for all, without discrimination”.

Despite this resolution and

adoption of the UN’s 2 030 Sustain-

able Development Goals, many

countries have not met the objec-

tive of reducing the number of

people living without adequate

clean water and sanitation.

In 2 0 15, individuals living with-

outclean and safe water stood at 2.1

billion, with more than half in sub-

SaharanAfrica, where only24 per-

cent of the population has access to

the vital resource.

Similarly,UNICEF established

that nearly 500 children die each

dayin sub-SaharanAfrica due to

lack of access to universal sanita-

tion and clean water, and that West

andCentralAfrica needed about

$3 0 billion annuallyto meet the

universal requirements for water.

The water shortage has hit South

Africa hard, especiallyCape Town,

where rationing was adopted to

prevent the cityfrom completely

running out of water. Water ration-

ing is common in numerous cities

acrossAfrica, including Nairobi,

Kenya;Bulawayo and Harare, Zim-

babwe; and Mapu-to, Mozambique.

To overcome water shortages, the

African DevelopmentBank project-

ed that the continent will need $66

billion peryear to build adequate

dams, pipelines, pumping stations

and purification plants.

China offers an opportunityfor

an exchange of ideas that would

helpAfrica overcome its water

problem. For instance, in 2 0 11,Chi-

na had the capacityto desalinate

about 6 00 , 000 metric tons of water

per dayand is projected to push

the figure to about 3 million tons of

desalinated water a dayby 2020.

In the Horn ofAfrica,China

funded a cross-border water project

between Ethiopia and Djibouti. The

project involved the drilling of wells

and reservoirs and the installation

of pipelines.

The importance of water as a

resource is not limited to sanitation

and drinking, since it is crucial to

manyactivities, including agricul-

ture, electric power production,

transportation and mining.

In Uganda,China International

Water and ElectricityCorp built a

dam costing $568 million. The Isim-

ba Hydropower Dam was launched

in March and is expected to add 184

megawatts to the national grid.

It is important that moreAfrican

countries take the opportunity

offered byChina and create a coop-

erative environment through which

ideas can be shared and imple-

mented. The scope of cooperation

should also focus on areas such as

energyand food security, which

require water as a keyinput.

The author is a senior policy

analyst at the Africa PolicyInstitute

in Nairobi, Kenya. The views do not

necessarilyreflect those of China

Daily.

OpportunitiesofferedbyChinacreateacooperativeenvironmentforsharing,implementingideas

Sino-Africa tiesonwaterissuesvital

Spiritof partnershiprequired

24 COMMENT August 9-15, 2019 CHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY