In snowy Davos, China has come into the sunshine
Print Edition
Thousands of global elites will once again gather at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at the snow-covered town of Davos in the Swiss Alps from tomorrow to Friday, including many from China.
However, few can still remember that when China participated in the event for the first time 40 years ago, the delegation was only composed of a small group and their voice was too small to be heard by the world at that time.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, or the Davos Forum, said that although the Chinese delegates aroused the interest of the other participants 40 years ago, most of the time they were just listening and seldom expressed themselves.
Almost 40 years later, at the end of last year, Schwab was among the 10 foreigners to whom Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal in appreciation of their help to China during its 40 years of reform and opening-up.
In Davos, Schwab has seen the historical transformation from “China listening to the world” to “China’s voice heard by the world.”
“In 1978, when I read articles about Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening-up, I was sure that China would have a big role in the world arena,” Schwab said.
Then, the year 1979 marked the beginning of a long relationship between the Forum and China, which has included official Chinese participation at Davos every year since.
In April 2018, Schwab made his first visit to China, and his visit was soon followed by a Forum delegation of 20 European CEOs.
After sending delegations to China in 1979 and 1980 and receiving several Chinese delegations to Switzerland and Europe, the Forum held its first event in China, the China-Europe Business Leaders Symposium in June 1981.
In 1992, the Annual Meeting in Davos for the first time saw the arrival of a Chinese premier.
That same year, a special seminar on China’s economic issues was held and “China” has become an increasingly popular topic at Davos.
In 1998, China’s role in the Asian financial crisis became one of the focuses of Davos during its annual meeting. A few years later, when similar crises swept the world, the positive initiatives of the Chinese leaders at Davos and China’s efforts to cope with the crisis became hot topics for the participants and won great applause.
In June 2006, the Davos Forum opened its China representative office in Beijing to serve as a home to the Center for Global Growth Companies.
This was a prelude to the 2007 first Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, which participants quickly began calling the “Summer Davos.”
In January 2017, with the arrival of President Xi, the first Chinese head of state to attend Davos, brought a highlight to Davos’ history.
Addressing the opening plenary of the 2017 WEF, Xi called for joint efforts to chart the course of economic globalization and forge new models of global growth, cooperation, governance and development.
After Xi’s speech, Schwab said that amid rising global concerns about protectionism, anti-globalization sentiment and other economic and political issues, Xi’s presence and Chinese wisdom at Davos had tremendous historic significance and “brought us some sunshine.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
