tion and that China is showing the ability to do so. He said that Chi-
na and the world economy could not afford the possible turbulence
from a decision by the US to overturn the existing rules which have
underpinned globalisation for decades. China is also in the strongest
economic position after the US and Europe to push globalisation for-
ward. All this, combined with Xi’s message in Switzerland, demon-
strates China’s emerging leadership in globalisation, Chen concluded.
As Chen recognises in the article, doubts over China’s leadership
abilities are mainstream. At a seminar on globalisation sponsored by
the CCG on April 9, many experts agreed that the US is trying to
resist the part of globalisation it feels does not benefit the US, not
globalisation in its entirety. In terms of capital flow, seminar partici-
pants believed more in capital’s pursuit of returns than in Trump’s
policy. While they have seen the opportunity for China to have a big-
ger voice in rule-making in globalisation, most of them do not think
China is fully ready to be the leader, given China’s mid-to-lower end
position in the global supply chain and lack of talents with interna-
tional vision and experience. As Cui Hongjian of the China Institute
of International Studies said at the forum, optimists believe China
can succeed where the US fails, while cautious attitudes have seen
China’s weakness compared with that of the US. Both actually are
using the US as the reference, Cui noted.
An interesting idea is in what situation and in what way China
could play a leading role. Professor Jin Canrong of Renmin Universi-
ty of China told ChinaReport that China would have the responsibil-
ity of assuming the leadership in the extreme case of the US refusing
WTO rules. However, he suggests that even in that situation China
still needs to do this in partnership with the EU and its major mem-
ber states, particularly Germany, which are experienced and adept at
economic global governance. The CF40 report also proposed that
China should consolidate its cooperation with other major trading
partners including Europe to defend the world trade order and the
WTO, if the US rejects the two.
There are signs that China is moving closer to Europe. While
strengthening relations with major European economies, particularly
Germany and Britain, China has stepped up efforts to build stronger
ties with the Central and Eastern European countries that form part
of China’s Belt and Road initiative. Besides, China is trying to at-
tach more importance to Nordic countries. Before meeting Trump,
Xi visited Finland. The two sides not only signed trade-related deals,
but also confirmed shared support for “multilateralism, economic
globalisation and free trade.” They declared in their joint statement
that their future-oriented, new-type cooperative partnership would
add momentum to China-EU relations.
There is already fast-growing interest among the businesses of the
two countries. Besides the heavy presence of Chinese giants Huawei
and Tencent in Finland, Finnish SMEs have received a lot of interest
from Chinese investors who consider acquiring small but highly tech-
savvy companies that can bring profits and technologies to Chinese
companies, according to Sophie Zhang at Nordic Trade House Fin-
land. Its member companies are in industries including electronics,
shipbuilding, mechanical equipment, food and clean technology.
More importantly, Zhang noted, compared with the US and West-
ern Europe, Finnish people generally have more understanding of
China’s political system, and are more positive toward the prospect
of China playing a leading role in economic globalisation. There is
perceived confidence and expectation that China can take the role
further with its own continued opening up and moving to a more
market-oriented economy, she said.
Whether it acts as a leader or not, China has already been in the
position of playing a bigger role in defending economic globalisation.
It needs new opportunities, new partners and new actions to continue
in this direction.Chinese railcar manufacturer CRRC Sifang America broke ground
for a US$100 million assembly plant in Chicago, March 16, 2017,
to supply new railcars for the Chicago Transit AuthorityImported soybean at Nantong Port, Jiangsu Province, February 2, 2012Photo by xinhuaPhoto by cfp