China's 'two sessions' agenda has world impact

BEIJING - China's "two sessions" that started on Sunday will formulate policies that have significant impact on the world, foreign experts say.

The annual full sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and its advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), would appoint top government officeholders and complete a once-in-a-decade leadership transition.

They would also see new policies taking shape to push ahead reforms outlined in the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) late last year, in which Xi Jinping was elected party leader.

China's growth, global opportunity

China is now a vital engine of global economic growth, and a strong locomotive that drags economic recovery across the world after the global financial crisis, Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Xinhua recently.

Last year's CPC congress stressed sustainable and "healthy" economic growth, which places more emphasis on domestic consumption, technology, and green economy.

It also involves upgrading the industrial structure and speeding up urbanization to integrate development of China's urban and rural areas.

Ken Lieberthal, a senior fellow with the U.S. Brookings Institution and a leading China expert, told Xinhua that China's future well-being depends on how effectively it reforms its domestic economic system to put it on a more sustainable path.

"China's role in Asia and globally will inevitably grow enormously larger if China's economy successfully transitions and continues to produce healthy growth," Lieberthal said.

Yuen Pao Woo, president and CEO of the Vancouver-based think tank Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, echoed that view. Yuen said that China's demand would spur global growth amid stagnation and recession in most European and American economies.

Mahmoud Allam, the former Egyptian ambassador to China, said he believes China, as it develops, will also bring benefits to others.

"We are now living in an open world, in which China has achieved success from its reform and opening-up policy and learning from other countries," Allam said.

Many countries are seeking cooperation and partnership with China. China can offer support on investment, technology, labor and development experience for a win-win outcome, the former ambassador said.

"Beautiful China" initiative to lead global environmental efforts

China's "two sessions" this year also will map out concrete steps toward a "beautiful China," an initiative proposed by former CPC leader Hu Jintao in an agenda-setting report to the 18th CPC Congress.

Foreign experts say China's strong environmental awareness is laudable and its efforts to balance the economy with the environment would provide useful experience for other countries.

Adel Sabry, former vice chief editor of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd, said one task for China's new cabinet is to improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution in industries that still rely on outdated technologies.

Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King's College London, said China could learn from London's catastrophic 1952 smog that killed at least 4,000. Beijing can make laws to curb air pollution, as London did with the Clean Air Act of 1956 that cleared its smogs.

Developed countries such as the United States have many lessons China can learn in order to avert similar pollution incidents, said William Allen, president and CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

China's peaceful development to benefit world

China is taking a peaceful path of development and will become a stable, responsible global player that contributes to world peace and development, said Hu Yishan, former political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister.

Mikhail Titarenko, director of the Far East Institute of the Russian Science Academy, said China is following a road of peaceful development. That, he said, would promote the establishment of a fair and just world order and also help create a stable environment for China to develop and prosper.

Xi told a group study session with members of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau that global prosperity and stability represent an opportunity for China, while China's development represents an opportunity for the world. He added that the success of a peaceful path of development will depend on the utilization of the opportunities that exist for both sides.

The international community interpreted the remarks as China's inclination to cooperate more actively with other countries for mutual benefits and win-win results and to overcome global challenges and contribute to world development.

Le Luong Minh, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said the association is willing to strengthen cooperation with China.

China is an active builder of the global order and international system. Reality has proved that the development China is seeking is peaceful, open, cooperative and mutually beneficial.

China will impress the world with its sincerity, Sabry said, adding that the country would play a bigger role on the world stage through win-win cooperation.