【英文阅报】Global elites look for big things from China

As Premier Li Keqiang departs for Davos , Switzerland , on Tuesday to attend the World Economic Forum meetings , global business and opinion leaders are expecting the second-most-powerful man in China to demonstrate active engagement in international affairs and a strong resolve for deeper economic reforms against a backdrop of a global recession .

Li , the first Chinese premier to attend the exclusive fair of opinions , is due to arrive on Tuesday after noon in Zurich , a major European financial hub . He will meet members of the forum ' s International Business Council before sharing his views on economic and geopolitical challenges with an audience of 2,500 attendees at Davos , including Eric Schmidt , executive chairman of Google , and Jack Ma , founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group .

Roger Moser , professor and director of the University of St . Gallen ' s Asia Connect Centre , said he believes Li ' s presence at the forum is an excellent opportunity for the rest of the world to read the positive signals that China is currently sending to its partners .

" The business world , as well as many political leaders in Europe , will benefit much for their own decision-making , if they would be able to appreciate the tremendous success that China has achieved in the past ," he said .

The biggest challenge for the Chinese economy , as Moser put it , is not based on the actual economic activity or investment behavior in the country but on the tendency to see every underdevelopment that does not set a record or an all-year high as a negative signal for China and the rest of the world .

Global corporate and political leaders need to assess the ongoing economic developments in China more carefully and evaluate how they fit into the broader context of China ' s transformation process , he said .

Chen Fengying , of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations , said Moser ' s concern highlights the importance of Li ' s visit in boosting global investors ' confidence and consolidating an outlook on the Chinese economy .

" The world is expecting Li to play a more active role in global affairs than in 2010, when China was still the world ' s third-largest economy , behind the US and Japan , and when Li attended the annual meeting as vice-premier ," Chen said .

In that context , Chen said , this visit , whose first goal is to firmly establish global confidence in the Chinese economy , will be part of a bigger diplomatic strategy showing China as a responsible player in global affairs .

China ' s biggest contribution to the world at the moment is to faithfully execute reform initiatives that it has committed to in the past two years , Chen said .

Rolf Langhammer , retired vice-president of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany , generally considered among the top four think tanks in the world for economic policy , echoed Chen , saying he would be pleased to read a message in Li ' s speech that China ' s economic slowdown is nothing to worry about but merely an entry into a new stage of economic development that is more consumer-oriented and more targeted at deepening social and economic integration inside China .

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