Vice president urges global cooperation
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan attends a special address during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos yesterday. He said debating how to divide existing wealth is futile.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan yesterday called on countries to work together to shape the global architecture in the age of the fourth industrial revolution to create a better future for all mankind.
While addressing the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Wang said it is imperative to respect national sovereignty and refrain from seeking technological hegemony.
He called for efforts to uphold multilateralism and jointly build a system of rules for technology and a new international cooperation framework featuring peace, security, democracy, transparency, inclusiveness and mutual benefit.
Pointing out that new technologies bring opportunities and also create risks and challenges, Wang said countries need to uphold the security of all mankind.
They also need to promote social prosperity and stability.
“We need to explore the adoption of relevant rules and standards in a phased way, while leaving broad space for the dissemination and application of scientific discovery and technological innovation,” he said.
Wang also called for accommodating in a balanced manner the interests of all countries, especially those of emerging markets and developing countries.
“One should not ask the whole world to address only security concerns and comply only with the standards of developed countries or individual countries,” he said.
Wang also called for further development as a solution to imbalances in the process of economic globalization.
He urged countries to press ahead with structural reform, strike a right balance between equity and efficiency, adopt effective policy measures to prevent the worsening of income inequality and fend off the impact on some regions and industries caused by new technologies and market competition.
“The last thing we should do is to stop making the pie and just engage in a futile debate on how to divide it,” he stressed.
World leaders and business elites gathered at the forum in Davos, Switzerland, scheduled for Tuesday to tomorrow, under the theme “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
