It is my great pleasure to join you in this Round Table Discussion on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. I’d like to express my heart-felt appreciation for the Institute of Chinese Studies for co-organizing this event. APEC is the largest, highest-ranking and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region. It is of great strategic significance in the world with 21 members, 40% of the world’s population, 57% of the total world economy and 46% of the total global trade. The choice of this topic for today’s discussion vindicates the wide range and deep insight of the ICS’s academic focus.

With fond memories of the 2001 APEC Summit held in Shanghai, China is ready to host once again APEC in Beijing this time. Starting from tomorrow, China will host the 2014 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, including the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, APEC CEO Summit and APEC Business Advisory Council Dialogue with Leaders. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the theme of 2014 APEC is “Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership”. Beijing is ready to host the APEC leaders to seek common development of the Asia-Pacific region. At this opportune moment I would like to talk with all of you about the future path of development and cooperation of the Asia-Pacific region.

The present global economic situation remains complex, where the after-effects of the international financial crisis can still be felt. The road to recovery in developed countries is still bumpy. Growth in emerging market economies and developing countries has slowed down. Today, the Asia-Pacific region has become the engine of the global economy with the highest growth rate, the greatest potential and the most active intra-regional cooperation. Its status in the global economy is rising steadily.

Never before had the cooperation in Asia-Pacific been so full of hope and opportunities. Yet never before had we to deal with so many risks and challenges.

First, with deepening globalization and proliferation of various regional free trade agreements, Asia-Pacific economic cooperation now stands at a crossroads that could lead to either integration or fragmentation.

Second, the international financial crisis has exposed the pitfalls and unsustainability of the traditional growth model. Asia-Pacific member economies should accelerate innovative development and reform so as to find new approaches to development and new areas of economic growth.

Third, hindered by the financing bottlenecks, infrastructure is still weak in the Asia- Pacific region. Hence, the effective resolution of financing bottlenecks requires all of us to think out of the box and work creatively.

Taking these challenges into consideration, this year’s APEC meeting will focus on three priorities:

Priority One: Advancing Regional Economic Integration. Important items under this priority include promoting Asia-Pacific free trade area, supporting the multilateral trading system, advancing cooperation on global value chain and supply chain, strengthening capacity- building in trade and investment.

Priority Two: Promoting Innovative Development, Economic Reform and Growth. The objective is to promote pragmatic cooperation around “the five pillars” of economic reform, new economy, innovative growth, inclusive support and urbanization in order to leap over “the middle-income trap”, to bring green development and innovative growth, to build a blue economy and an internet economy, and to achieve urbanization.

Priority Three: Strengthening Comprehensive Connectivity and Infrastructure Development. Connectivity has three pillars: first, physical or hard connectivity, which includes transport, telecommunications, ICT and energy infrastructure; second, institutional or soft connectivity, which includes customs, supply-chain, financial and regulatory coherence, structural reform, etc.; third, people-to-people connectivity, which includes business mobility, labor and professional mobility, tourism facilitation, and transnational education. This year we have the mandate to develop the Blueprint, which will address the achievements and challenges of connectivity in this region, as well as the key initiatives for enhanced APEC connectivity and strategies for implementation.

Asia-Pacific is at a crucial stage of development. We should adhere to the overarching goal of common development and build an Asia-Pacific community of shared interests and common destiny. In the age of economic globalization, countries cannot achieve development in isolation from each other, still less can they pursue development as a “zero-sum game”. Rather, with our interests closely entwined, we the Asia-Pacific countries need to seek mutually beneficial cooperation.

Great minds think alike. Ancient wisdom see eye to eye. There is a Chinese proverb, “one plus one can make more than two”. I learnt that there is a similar saying in the Hindi language, “one plus one equals eleven”. That is also the moral of the following story known widely both in China and India. Once an old man gave each of his sons a single chopstick, everyone broke it easily. However, when the old man put all the chopsticks into a bundle, none of the young guys could break them. The story tells us about the importance of unity and cooperation. We the Asia-Pacific countries are brothers to each other as in this story. We need to deepen pragmatic cooperation in all fields, seek development through integration, and thus jointly bring into reality the Asia-Pacific Century.

Asia-Pacific is the region where our home is. As a member of the Asia-Pacific big family, China sees the prosperity of the entire region as the foundation of its own well-being. China’s development is also a driving force for regional growth and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. China is willing to promote common development through its own development. We desire to live in harmony and work in unison with our neighbors to make the cake of cooperation even bigger so that we can all share the fruits of our common prosperity.Here, I’d like to share with all of you our ideas about the common development in four key words all starting with the letter C, “the four Cs”.

The first word is Creative. China’s reform and opening-up over the past 30 years is a text-book example of creative thinking and large-scale innovation. I remember vividly that when China considered whether to accede to the WTO, there was a strong domestic opposition crying “wolves are coming”. However, after dancing with the wolves for years, China not only survives but also thrives. China has adapted to international competition through its opening-up. Recently, Alibaba’s IPO success has become a household story. I would like to say that Alibaba might be the star at the moment yet it is just one in the Milky Way of Chinese private enterprises that have made great achievements over many years. Other Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE have embraced competition at home and abroad and have emerged as industry leaders. Their products are highly cost effective and liked by customers as “value for money” in India as well. Nowadays, the ever deeper integration of China’s vibrant economy with the globaleconomy not only improves the living standards of the Chinese people but also enhances the well-being of the peoples of all other countries, including India.

The second word is Conducive. We have strived to remove market obstacles and make the market play a decisive role in resources allocation so that everyone interested in starting a business could give full play to his or her spirit of entrepreneurship. Since its formation, the new Chinese government has introduced reforms to simplify the administrative approval system so as to lower the threshold for starting businesses and remove restrictions on them. Within only one year, central government departments have removed or delegated to lower levels administrative approval on over 600 items. This has given a great boost to business development in the whole country. From January to September this year, the number of newly registered market entities exceeded 9 million, generating more than 10 million jobs. The reform and innovation fuels the new wave of mass entrepreneurship at the grassroots level and releases great potential of the market in China. Within next two years, per capita GDP in one-third of the provinces in China will exceed 10,000 US dollars. In the next seven years, China is expected to import goods worth more than 17 trillion US dollars, and the amount of outward Chinese foreign direct investment is expected to reach 1.2 trillion US dollars. By 2020, 600 million Chinese people would be earning middle-level-income, which will create an attractive “world market”.