CCTV9英语新闻：China Development Forum opens in Beijing

This year’s China Development Forum has just started in Beijing. Government officials, economists, as well as enterprise executives from both home and abroad gather in the Chinese capital.

Themed “China in the New Five-Year Plan,’ the forum will focus on these issues, as well as promote dialogues to help the government carry out necessary reforms. Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli and head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde spoke at the opening ceremony.

BEIJING, March 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (1st L) addresses the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2016 in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

The three-day forum followed the conclusion of China’s “Two Sessions” political seasons, which passed a draft of China's 13th Five-Year Plan outlining the country’s development path in the coming five years.

BEIJING, March 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli addresses the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2016 in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

"China has already entered a new stage of development. And in this new stage I know that we are faced with new challenges. We must not continue with the inefficient development model,” said Zhang.

"What we must do is to pursue an efficient and science-based development model. So we have been trying to adjust and transform and upgrade our economy.”

BEIJING, March 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (5th L, front) poses for a group photo with some participants of the China Development Forum 2016 before the opening ceremony of the forum in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

The first year of China’s 13th-Five-Year-Plan, 2016, is crucial for the country to promote structural reforms during a period of economic slowdown

"That transition is going to be good for China and is going to be good for the world. And like any transition, it will not go without some bumps on the road,” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

 

"And we should expect them because there is a delicate balance to be struck between deliberately slowing economy and reforms that need to be accelerated.”

BEIJING, March 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- The China Development Forum 2016 opens in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

During the meeting, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo agreed both countries should try to jointly walk over the Thucydidean Trap.

The Trap refers to a process during which inevitable conflicts result from an emerging power rising up to supersede an existing power.

Kissinger said the national powers of China and the U.S. correspond to some extent to Thucydidean Trap characteristics. But neither intends to supersede the other, though their views differ on issues like denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and South China Sea issues.

"China and the United States face a whole range of problems. They want to settle them. And if that is not done, then there's a danger,” said Kissinger.

"But we know how to avoid them. What needs to be done is to fill in the area between the short-term techniques and the long-term strategic objectives.”

Dai said that all countries are inter-dependent on one another, with interests interwoven into a community of common destiny.

He added that it is necessary for all countries, especially China and the U.S., to face the new threats and challenges together.

"Living in the same global village, no country, neither the U.S. nor China, can face the challenges on its own. Each ‘household’ in the village, especially big ones like the U.S. and China, must respect and cooperate with each other to face the challenges together,” 

Dai said.

"China and the U.S., the two major countries, must step on the road of building a new type of big-power relationship, which requires respect, cooperation, and no confrontation to generate a win-win situation. This is the right choice and the only right choice, and there is no alternative way out.”

And voices are also from researchers and economists offering their views on the Chinese economy.

"Domestic demand is more than private consumption. It includes investment in environment, people and technology,” said Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist.

Hosted by the State Council’s Development Research Center, the annual China Development Forum is a platform for business and academic leaders to interact with China’s top decision makers and economic planners.