China seizes the "new trend" of the world economy, in-depth | Summer Davos Forum is coming: the atmosphere is different from the winter annual meeting

In the midsummer, on the coast of Bohai Sea, the World Economic Forum's 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions will be held in Dalian from June 25 to 27, attracting about 1,600 representatives from nearly 80 countries and regions around the world to register to attend.

Analysts pointed out that as the world economy's downward trajectory since 2008 has flattened, the atmosphere of this year's annual meeting has changed significantly compared to the "chilly" winter Davos Forum at the beginning of the year. China has keenly grasped the direction of change in the world economy and focused on the "new frontier of future growth."

The Davos Forum began in 1971 and is named after the annual meeting held in the Swiss ski resort of Davos every winter. It is dedicated to promoting global public-private sector cooperation to discuss the world's most pressing economic issues.

The Summer Davos Forum is a global conference jointly organized by the Chinese government and the World Economic Forum. It provides a learning and exchange platform for global growing companies. It has been held alternately in Dalian and Tianjin since 2007.

"The World Economic Forum has two pillars, one is Winter Davos and the other is Summer Davos," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. When asked why the summer event was held in China, Schwab replied that after years of development, the World Economic Forum has set its sights on emerging economic powers and growing companies, and China has become one of the new leaders.

Fu Mengzi, academic advisor of the China Reform and Opening-up Forum and former vice president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out that the Winter Davos is dominated by Western countries. Although the scope of participation has been expanded in recent years, it is still called a "rich man's club" by some people. In 2007, Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, and the Chinese government agreed to hold the Summer Davos Forum in China, which was closely related to the changes in the world economic growth trend at that time and was also a recognition of China's sustained and rapid economic growth.

"Affected by the global financial crisis that originated in the United States, the world economy has fallen into recession. Emerging economies, led by China, have generally shown a development momentum that is much faster than that of Western countries. The process of the world economic center of gravity shifting eastward has further accelerated, and China has become the engine driving the global economy." Fu Mengzi said that compared with the Winter Davos, the Summer Davos reflects more of a perspective that is based in Asia, faces the world, and is diversified and balanced, providing the outside world with an important multilateral platform to grasp the pulse of the Chinese economy and strengthen communication and cooperation.

This year is the 8th time that the Summer Davos Forum is held in Dalian. It is also the first time that it has returned to Dalian in 5 years. It will organize about 200 events and attract about 1,600 public and private sector leaders from nearly 80 countries and regions around the world to register and participate. The scale, number of sessions and number of guests of the forum have reached new highs.

As a feast of ideas, the agenda is close to current hot topics and forward-looking, and has always been regarded as an important "business card" of the Davos Forum.

Different from the theme of the previous annual meeting, "Entrepreneurship: Driving Force of the World Economy", the theme of this year's annual meeting is "straightforward", focusing on "New Frontiers of Future Growth". It has six topics including "New Global Economy", "China and the World", "Entrepreneurship in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", "New Frontiers of Industry", "Investing in People", and "The Interconnection between Climate, Nature and Energy". It focuses on discussing topics such as China's economic outlook, seeking growth amid complex risks, and coping with the fragmentation of the global financial system.

Looking at this year's themes and topics, Fu Mengzi pointed out that "global new economy", green and low-carbon, and China's role are the three major highlights of this annual meeting.

First, "Compared with the Winter Davos Forum at the beginning of the year, the atmosphere of the summer annual meeting is quite different," Fu Mengzi noted.

Affected by factors such as sluggish world economic growth and intensified geopolitical risks, the Winter Davos in January was "chilly and windy". Held against the "most complex geopolitical and geo-economic backdrop in decades", countries paid more attention to "rebuilding trust" and tried to find a way out in the "divided world".

Today, "although the West, especially the United States, still wants to tie geo-economics and geopolitics together, and although the Ukrainian crisis still has a great impact on international trade and investment, China has not been led by these negative tendencies, but has keenly grasped the major changes and new trends in the development of the world economy." Fu Mengzi pointed out that according to the World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund in April, the world economy will maintain a relatively stable growth trend of around 3.2% this year and next, showing strong resilience. The economic trajectory that has been declining since 2008 has stabilized and become flat.

In this context, this year's annual meeting focused on "the new frontier of future growth", and the first of the six major topics set by China mentioned "the new global economy". "This echoes the transformation of the current world economy. The transformation and development of certain fields has reached the moment from 'fetal movement' to 'birth'." Fu Mengzi said, for example, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, green and low-carbon, digital economy and other fields is exciting. According to data, global digital transformation spending is expected to reach 3.4 trillion US dollars in 2026, and the compound growth rate in the next few years will reach 16.3%; the proportion of digital economy in the GDP of various countries will continue to increase.

"This is a 'new global economy' that has surpassed people's past understanding of economic and industrial development. The new economic growth points that people have been seeking are now in front of them. How to better grasp the strong pulse of the global economy is a major highlight of this annual meeting," Fu Mengzi pointed out.

Secondly, green and low-carbon is another highlight of this annual meeting.

With the frequent occurrence of various extreme weather and natural disasters, the sharp decline of biodiversity, and the increasing fragility of the environment, climate change has always been highly valued, whether it is Winter Davos or the Boao Forum for Asia, and it is a risk faced by all mankind.

In recent years, China's green industry has continued to develop and has become an important force in the global green economy. Fu Mengzi pointed out that from the setting of the agenda to the conference site, the "green" content of Summer Davos has continued to increase, and this year's annual meeting will have more discussions around green and sustainable development.

Finally, China’s role is highly anticipated, and Fu Mengzi mentioned “no” and “yes”.

On the one hand, China has not followed the pace of hegemonic countries and has clearly opposed camps, small circles and exclusive groups. China has transcended the outdated thinking of zero-sum games and is on the right path to accelerate its own economic development and promote and lead global economic development. The theme and topics of this annual meeting have strong guiding significance.

On the other hand, China is promoting a new type of relationship with the world, and through Chinese-style modernization, it is more effectively forming a positive interaction with the world, providing the world with new opportunities for mutual achievement and win-win cooperation. China's approach has been responded to by many countries.

Data shows that from January to May this year, China established 21,764 new foreign-invested enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 17.4%; the actual use of foreign capital is still at a historical high. This is a "vote of confidence" cast by global investors in the Chinese economy.

According to the Chinese side, at this year's annual meeting, Premier Li Qiang will deliver a special speech, meet with foreign guests, and hold discussions with representatives of foreign business circles. Polish President Andrzej Duda and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will also attend the forum.

"Both Central and Eastern European countries and their Asian neighbors hope to find more economic opportunities and promote cooperation and interaction with China and other countries in the world," said Fu Mengzi.

Looking ahead to this year's annual meeting, China has also put forward several expectations: to showcase the concept and practice of Chinese-style modernization and enhance the understanding of Chinese-style modernization by all parties around the world; to attract more foreign investment; to guide and promote the healthy development of economic globalization; and to showcase the style and elegance of the host city, Dalian.

In Fu Mengzi's view, the Summer Davos Forum is not only a stage to showcase China's image, Chinese ideas, and China's global influence, but also a window to observe the evolution of the world economic landscape.

"At present, under the influence of geopolitical games and other factors, economic globalization has encountered some setbacks and seems to have slowed down. However, globalization has not ended, but is changing tracks and adjusting." Fu Mengzi said that unlike the globalization that was more driven by the United States and set rules by the United States in the past, emerging economies such as China and India are becoming the main driving force and are promoting a new type of globalization. They have created new space for economic cooperation and development through a series of measures such as optimizing the domestic macro policy mix, improving institutional rules, further improving the business environment, and developing cutting-edge industries. Countries around the world have great expectations for sharing the dividends of the new globalization.