Journalists and economists from all over the world on Monday voiced their confidence that rather than a boon, the new policy of China relaxing international travel restrictions over Covid-19 is a looming boom.
The experts said this at the CGTN online forum – Insights & Impact: Emerging together from the pandemic. Joined by six international journalists and economists from five continents, the panel discussed China’s COVID-19 policy adjustments and the outlook for the international community after this change.
The discussants drawn from Africa, Asia, America, Oceania, and Europe brainstormed on the possible benefits of the new policy to China, its economy, and the world that relates to China in so many ways, especially in economic activities.
They also agreed that the world is changing, and the international community needs to embrace a multipolar world and reshape globalization in this new reality with a pragmatic approach.
One of the panelists and Editor-in-Chief of Africa China Economy Magazine in Nigeria, Ikenna Emewu expressed optimism that a country like Nigeria for instance stands to gain as the travel restrictions had stalled the country’s policy on building the digital economy since most of the Nigerian partners in the quest are Chinese investors.
Emewu noted that since China has been the major partner of African countries in economic development and advancement in the past 20 years, the continent would benefit, just like China from the new rule.
Regarding the jolt globalization and openness seem to face all over the world regarding the slant of some countries to isolate, the journalist said Africa has been a beneficiary of globalization and doesn’t want it truncated.
He however expressed optimism that even though they are jostled by powerful countries over dominance, globalization has come to stay.
“Whenever we turn down the tendency of dictating to other countries of the world, the world will have more peace. However, the world wide web has become the “glue that binds the whole world. So long as the internet and ICT regime remains intact, globalization has come to stay. It’s almost impossible for the world countries and continents to live in isolated sets with the internet still in place.”
In his intervention, Supachai Wuthichuwong, senior reporter at Thailand’s Manager Media Group, after China adjusted its COVID-19 policy and the first batch of tourists arrived in Thailand, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul personally welcomed them at the airport. The minister also commented at the 16th forum that the minister is “pragmatic” and “learning to adapt the policy to suit the situation” since 30 percent of Thailand’s GDP is generated through the tourism industry and Chinese tourists account for almost half of Thailand’s tourists.
The experts echoed the sentiment and pointed out that the current world faces a challenge brought by globalization produced by a unipolar system. The “old globalization,” according to William Jones, the Washington Bureau Chief for Executive Intelligence Review in the United States, is that it was based on “shareholder value” and has proven to be a failure filled with exploitation and widening gaps between the rich and the poor. “What China is trying to push, and other countries I think are very supportive of, is to have a globalization where countries can work together as equal partners and have mutual benefits in which everybody has a share,” he said.
The former director of economic and business policy for the mayor of London John Ross, referring to the success of the trading regime of ASEAN and the diversity of political systems in East Asia, said that these countries have agreed that they are not going to go along with attempts to create tension. Ross believes that this is why they are successful economically with the lowest inflation and fastest growth.
“On the other hand, in Europe, you have got absolute chaos at the present time. You have the highest inflation for 40 years. You have got a major war. This is due to the policies of going along with the United States, the expansion of NATO, which is what is behind the Ukraine war. You couldn’t have a big, more polar opposite. And it’s the unipolar situation that has created the chaos in Europe,” Ross argued.
Regarding how to reshape the global community, Daryl Guppy, a national board member of the Australia-China Business Council, said that “the first and most difficult step is to put aside aspirations for hegemony. We are moving into a multipolar world. The institutions of global governments need to recognize these changes. ” The United States may feel some discomfort in this process, but “globalization is unstoppable,” Guppy asserted.
China and the United States are the two biggest players in globalization and they should work together for the development of people around the globe, according to Muhammad Furqan Rao, Head of the China Desk at the Associated Press of Pakistan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as Rao said, both China and the U.S. played roles in supporting other countries. According to him, China provided vaccines to the world and specifically 5 million doses to his home country Pakistan. Similarly, the U.S. also supplied vaccines to the world. “If both countries will work together, then that would be better for globalization. Otherwise, the conflict is not better, I think, for the whole world,” Rao said.
