West urged to 'tell truth on globalisation'
Long Yongtu, the diplomat who negotiated China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, has urged western governments to stop politicising trade and start telling their voters the truth about globalisation.
He said that some politicians in Europe and North America had been blaming China for problems in their own economies that they had failed to tackle themselves.
"There are many misconceptions about globalisation in Europe and North America," he said. "Governments should not deliberately politicise trade and economic matters."
China and other developing nations in Asia did not like to be a scapegoat, he said on Saturday at the World Deauville Conference in France, which is designed to strengthen relations between Asia and Europe. "We have to have more public education to understand that globalisation is unavoidable."
The European Union and the US have criticised China for unfair trade practices since its entry into theWTO and have imposed temporary restrictions on Chinese textiles and steel exports. Some European and US politicians have also blamed job losses on rising competition from lower-cost Asian countries, such as China and India.
However, Mr Long, who now runs the Boao Forum, Asia's equivalent to Davos, said Europe should not fear China's economic expansion but exploit it. "There are a lot of misconceptions about China's economy. People believe that it depends on exports and external investment. But China's economic development is basically driven by domestic demand, both investment and consumption."
Christian de Boissieu, president of France's Council of Economic Analysis, a governmental advisory body, said that Europe's capacity to be a credible and constructive partner for Asia depended on its abilityto implement economic reforms.
Europe could raise its annual economic growth rate to 3 per cent as long as it implemented the Lisbon agenda, a package of liberalising measures adopted by EU leaders to create a more competitive, knowledge-based economy.
However, Gary Coull, chairman of CLSA, the Asian stockbrokers, criticised European economies for having too many stakeholders and too much government interference, leading to institutionalised unemployment. But he said that Asia's fantastic growth potential was being jeopardised by weak environmental standards, poor worker protection and widespread corruption.
"In Asia we need to learn a little bit more from Europe, but not too much," he said.
龙永图：中国不想当全球化的替罪羊
代表中国进行加入世贸组织(WTO)谈判的外交官龙永图敦促西方各国政府停止将贸易问题政治化，并开始将全球化的实情告诉本国选民。
龙永图说，欧洲和北美的某些政界人士一直在将其面临、却未能解决的经济问题归咎于中国。
“欧洲和北美对全球化存在许多误解，”他说，“各国政府不应刻意将贸易和经济问题政治化。”
龙永图周六在世界多维勒会议(World Deauville Conference)上表示，中国和亚洲其它发展中国家不希望成为替罪羊。此次会议在法国举行，旨在加强亚洲和欧洲之间的关系。他说：“我们必须对公众进行更多教育，让他们理解全球化是不可避免的。”
欧盟和美国批评中国，指责中国入世以来的不公平贸易行为，并对中国纺织品和钢铁出口施加了临时限制。对于就业流失，一些欧美政客也已把它归咎于中国和印度等成本更低的亚洲国家越来越强的竞争力。
然而，博鳌论坛(Boao Forum)秘书长龙永图表示，欧洲不应害怕中国的经济扩张，而是应利用它。“人们对中国的经济有许多误解。人们认为，中国经济依靠出口和外部投资。但中国的经济发展基本上是由包括投资和消费在内的内需推动的。”博鳌论坛在亚洲的地位相当于达沃斯(Davos)论坛。
法国政府顾问机构经济分析委员会(Council of Economic Analysis)会长克里斯蒂安?德?布瓦西厄(Christian de Boissieu)表示，欧洲是否有能力成为亚洲可靠且富有建设性伙伴，取决于它实施经济改革的能力。
只要欧洲执行里斯本议程(Lisbon agenda)，就能把年经济增长率提高到3%。里斯本议程是欧盟领导人采纳的一套经济开放措施，旨在创造更具竞争力的知识型经济。
不过，亚洲股票经纪商里昂证券(CLSA)董事长顾家利(Gary Coull)则批评说，欧洲经济体有太多利益相关方，政府干预太多，导致了制度化失业。但他表示，亚洲惊人的增长潜力，正受到环境标准低、劳工保护差以及普遍腐败的威胁。
顾家利表示：“在亚洲，我们需要从欧洲多学一点，但不要太多。”
