Asia discusses cooperation; China casts long shadow<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Boao, China<\/p>\n
Businesspeople and officials meeting in the south Chinese resort
\ntown of Boao on Saturday were discussing ways to promote economic
\ncooperation in Asia, but the host nation cast a long shadow.<\/p>\n
The emergence of China as an economic power with huge regional
\nclout formed the background of the debate, and many remarks
\ndwelled on the issue of whether China should be seen as a threat,
\nchallenge or opportunity.<\/p>\n
China's fourth most powerful leader, Jia Qinglin, sought to
\nreassure the region about its voracious economy, promising that
\neven in 2020 imports would only make up a small proportion of its
\nenergy consumption.<\/p>\n
\"We should be aware that China is not just a big energy
\nconsumer, it's also major producer of energy,\" Jia told the Boao
\nForum for Asia.<\/p>\n
\"Imports only account for a small part of China's energy
\nconsumption ... according to our estimate, in the year 2020, the
\nimported energy will only account for a small proportion of all
\nthe energy consumed by the country.\"<\/p>\n
While China is not going to decrease its energy consumption, a
\ncombination of conservation and search for additional energy
\nresources will keep China supplied mainly by domestic sources, he
\nargued.<\/p>\n
Leading Chinese scholar Zheng Bijian struck a similar note at
\nthe start of the talks on Friday, telling China's neighbors they
\nhad nothing to fear.<\/p>\n
\"We will neither seek hegemony, nor claim hegemony, neither
\nact as a leader nor become a vassal,\" said Zheng, chairman of
\nthink tank China Reform Forum.<\/p>\n
While the Boao Forum for Asia is being touted as a non-
\ngovernmental event, it is widely believed that the Chinese
\nleadership hopes it will evolve into a regional counterpart of
\nthe World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Adding to the argument that China was more of an opportunity
\nfor the region, the Boao forum issued a report suggesting that
\nthe opening of its economy had been overwhelmingly beneficial for
\nthe region.<\/p>\n
In fact, China's economic reforms had done more to boost
\nintra-regional trade than the efforts of regional organizations
\nsuch as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, according to
\nthe report, Economic Integration in Asia.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong's caretaker leader Donald Tsang on Saturday said
\nthere was an \"overwhelming\" case for a single Asian currency, but
\nthat the objective had to be attained in a step-by-step manner.<\/p>\n
\"The case for a single Asian currency is overwhelming,\" he
\ntold the Boao gathering, but added: \"We must learn to walk before
\nwe can run.\"<\/p>\n
He pointed out that the vast diversity of the Asian economies
\nmade it an extremely difficult task to bring about a single
\ncurrency in the region.<\/p>\n
\"We must create the conditions for greater free trade in
\nfinancial services before we can even begin to talk about
\nmonetary integration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He urged Asian governments to remove hurdles to increased
\ntrade in financial services as a first step towards the eventual
\nobjective of a single currency in Asia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asia-discusses-cooperation-china-casts-long-shadow-1447893297",
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