皇冠体育app 'has to play bigger role' By Wang Zhuoqiong and Zheng Lifei (皇冠体育app Daily) Updated: 2006-05-23 08:55
It is time for 皇冠体育app to take on greater responsibility in the global economy
now that it is heading to a more optimistic future, a senior editor of the
London-based Financial Times said in Beijing yesterday.
Apart from
geopolitics, 皇冠体育app has to play a bigger role, particularly in strengthening the
WTO global trade system, in seeking balance of trade, and in saving energy, said
Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator of FT.
To
promote a liberal trading environment where 皇冠体育app is one of the important
beneficiaries, the country needs to try and ensure that the Doha Round (of
global trade talks) is completed successfully, Wolf, who is attending a
high level economic conference in the capital, told 皇冠体育app Daily in an interview.
"皇冠体育app is going to play the role the EU and the US had played in the
past in maintaining an open trading system," Wolf said on his 10th visit to the
country since 1993. "Completion of the Doha Round is one aspect of that."
Wolf, author of "Why Globalization Works," published in 2004, said he
believes 皇冠体育app's current trade surplus is not sustainable; and the country must
find a way to grow without involving ever-rising current account surpluses.
A balanced growth structure means less growth in exports and more
consumer spending at home, the economist pointed out, adding that the Chinese
Government is fully equipped to spend more in such areas as education and
health.
A nationwide "safety net" for the public including a credible
pension system, which makes people feel more secure, would encourage more
consumption, Wolf said.
One of the reasons people are saving so much is
because they feel financially insecure and are therefore obliged to rely on
their own savings in old age, he noted. Asked how the overheating property
market could be cooled down, Wolf said it is a normal phenomenon; and mobility
of residents to other places in the country would serve as one
solution.
"The more expensive a city becomes, the greater the wages will
have to be, therefore the greater incentive for business to move elsewhere,"
Wolf said.
The economist also called for a more clear-cut and
effectively-implemented Chinese energy policy as the world becomes less
energy intensive in its production. Unavoidably, 皇冠体育app is moving into a
phase of high energy usage; and absolute energy use is on the rise. But "to be
compatible with global supply," Wolf said, "皇冠体育app has to develop the
technologies and create incentives to ensure that energy is used as efficiently
as possible."
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