SFC Markets and Finance｜ What are some interesting topics at Boao Forum?

南方财经全媒体记者 杨雨莱 李依农 博鳌、上海报道

Coming to the second day of Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2024. When the global economy is now well expected, what role will China’s economy play in it? Is the Chinese market attractive to the world? Among the 2000 delegates, some former dignitaries and directors of international organizations presented and shared their valuable opinions with us. 

Danilo Turk (Former president of the Republic of Slovenia): I think first of all, let me say this, if we had some level of agreement about regulation of artificial intelligence on the global level, that would help everybody. Because nobody wants artificial intelligence to take over, so that machines take over human decision making. That's clearly nobody's interest. So there has to be a way towards joint regulation, and I think that Asia has every reason to work in that direction. All Asian countries have every reason to work in that direction. And then on the other hand, Asian economies are going to be the engine of growth globally, so they have to be listened to very carefully. China has contributed more than 30% of global growth, and many other Asian economies will do their part. So you know Asia is such an important part of global growth, that it has to be listened.

Charles Dallara (Former managing director of the Institute of International Finance): You have many distinguished people here coming from all over the world, especially Asia, but not just Asia. I am a firm believer  in strengthening the dialogue between Asia and the rest of the world, so we better understand one another and can more easily explore common ground. China is a leader in green energy as we know, and I think it will continue to play a catalytic and leading role. There will need to be careful discussions over how this is integrated into the west, so that the west isn't flooded by electric vehicles from China. but I think governments will need to find good framework to address these issues. China has very advanced technology and green energy and it can contribute not only to easing the environmental problems here, but around the world as well. So, I think China is well poised to be a global leader in bringing us into a more environmentally safe world.

The Chinese market is important for us. We made a number of investments here, we're very pleased with the success of our investments, and we're pleased to continue to explore investment opportunities here. Firm block like ours, we have to be aware of global geopolitical tensions, but we can find our own investment, make our own decisions, as we see fit.

We have confidence in our group's future in China, and in the rest of Asia. We have growing investment in other parts of Asia as well, it's a dynamic region and now you can find in China as well as other parts (of Asia) not just large scale labor force, but skilled labor. Particularly in China and India, you can find a very good leadership of engineers and scientists to be at the forefront of technological development. So we are quite encouraged about the prospects of continuing to invest in China.

With the rising trade barriers in the world, what will be the future of global trade? What economic and trade relationship will China develop with their countries? Let’s hear some opinions of delegates from different countries.  

Danilo Turk (Former president of the Republic of Slovenia): This is a very wise choice of words, suggesting different matters which should be merged as a result of our discussions, because the challenges are really common. Everybody is exposed to the same problems resulting from climate change, resulting from other problems of our time. And the responsibility that exists is shared. Everybody has to participate in sharing the effort for an improvement change and so forth. Now the question is how should that be achieved. And of course there are many panels that will discuss different aspect, but I think the choice of the title of the forum is very wise. I mean this is the problem of the world today. The world needs a very big change, which will come as a result of a very clear ideas on various issues, such as intellectual property security. Questions like this would have to be discussed.

It is going to be complicated, because many important players in this field are doing their things in their own way. You know European Union is doing its change in this way, China is going its own way, the United States in its own way and so forth. The question of international coordination of policies is really very serious. I mean we have very little. We don't have enough of that, but clearly we have efforts. And real changes happening within major systems, such as China, such as United States, such as European Union. The question is how to pull all this together. Here the political climate is not helpful. And that is why one has to be optimistic when one sees that things are changing domestically, and in some very important ways. But then of course globally, there is still much to be done.

I think first of all, let me say this, if we had some level of agreement about regulation of artificial intelligence on the global level, that would help everybody. Because nobody wants artificial intelligence to take over, so that machines take over human decision making. That's clearly nobody's interest. So there has to be a way towards joint regulation, and I think that Asia has every reason to work in that direction. All Asian countries have every reason to work in that direction. And then on the other hand, Asian economies are going to be the engine of growth globally, so they have to be listened to very carefully. China has contributed more than 30% of global growth, and many other Asian economies will do their part. So you know Asia is such an important part of global growth, that it has to be listened.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Former Prime Minister of Pakistan): I think even today, you've seen in the Gaza crisis, China is a big factor in the UN Security Council passing the resolutions. So I think China will only have a growing voice in new politics. For the CPEC, there are some projects being implemented, some in the pipeline, and some are in the planning stage. So I hope that the process of the seat back will accelerate.

Charles Dallara (Former managing director of the Institute of International Finance): I think the bilateral relationship today is at a difficult moment. We know that, we see it. However, I think it is now beginning to improve,and I think this improvement can continue especially if the two countries deepen their commitment to dialogue.

As I said earlier, when I was working for the U.S. government, I realized that dialogue is so important to understanding the other side of the table. And I think neither the U.S. nor China engaged in a sufficiently robust dialogue over the last few years, but this is beginning to improve. and I think that we can find areas where we disagree, but we can still better understand the others' perspective, and narrow the gap between each sides' different view of important issues. I think that over the medium and long term there's every reason to be optimistic with the U.S. and China can manage their relations in a mutually prosperous way.

I think we need to encourage leaders to look at the long-term benefits, of increased trade and increased investment. And not allow our countries to be swallowed up in short-term populism. Today, that is the case in many countries around the world where we have been on a path of greater protectionism. In the long run,  global integration is the best path we have, protectionism doesn't work, to mutual prosperity and mutual peace. so I think we just need to find leaders, who can articulate this vision and then follow through it.

Dssry Damavanti (Destry Damayanti Senior Deputy Governor at Bank Indonesia): Well, I think Indonesia is giving more attention to the green finance because Indonesia actually is almost like China. We have a lot of natural resources, and we have a lot of forest. But at the same time, we also build coal, mine coal, which is why in our policy, we are trying to combine the development of  mining but also in the same time, maintaining our forest and soil layer. So that's why sustainability development is one of the important aspects for Indonesia as well.

Right now it's still in the progress of local currency transaction between Indonesia and China for underlying trade and investment already in place. And later on, by having a correlation also with the payment connectivity between Indonesia and China. Of course, we do hope that in the future, I cannot say, later the end of this year or maybe in the next following years, but at least the objective actually is how we can also open for having retail transactions between China, Indonesia, as already happened between Indonesia and Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. So we can use just our QR codes, our bank, buying some goods in Singapore or Thailand and Malaysia by having our QR codes. Or the other way around when they go also like Alipay or WeChat.

A lot of thing needs to be done. Because for example, in Indonesia, we only one QR code in Indonesian standard. We are only using QR one. But in China, they have many QR, many companies, many banks have their own QR. So this is something like needs to be worked on first to make it settle at least. Maybe not so many QR codes, but maybe a few QR codes. So that's why it's much easier if we can work together and cooperate.

（市场有风险，投资需谨慎。本节目嘉宾意见仅代表本人观点。）

策划：于晓娜    

监制：施诗

责任编辑：李依农

记者：杨雨莱 李依农

制作：李群 蔡于恬

新媒体统筹：丁青云 曾婷芳 赖禧 曾昭发

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪

海外运营编辑：庄欢 吴婉婕 龙李华 张伟韬

出品：南方财经全媒体集团