Quotable quotes from Boao Forum

Editor's note: Themed "A World in Change: Join Hands to Strengthen Global Governance and Advance Belt and Road Cooperation," this year's Boao Forum for Asia annual conference is ongoing in Boao, a coastal town in China's southern Hainan province, attracting more than 2,600 delegates from over 60 countries and regions.

Here are some of the quotable quotes captured from the forum.

Long Yongtu, former vice-minister of foreign trade. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Long Yongtu, former vice-minister of foreign trade and former secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia

The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement brought a message to Asia and the world, that is, globalization is still promising and the trend of economic globalization is unstoppable.

The Asia-Pacific region has gained more weight as an economic powerhouse in recent years, and with the signing of the RCEP, the transition seems to be more obvious.

China has signed the RCEP and is preparing to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership through negotiations, which may help to merge these two mechanisms into the largest trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Long. "That should be our target."

Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission

China will further create conditions to attract more foreign capital into the A-share market, Fang said, adding that the scale of foreign capital has been increasing in China's stock market since 2018.

"As more foreign capital flows into the Chinese market, it will have a rising role in market pricing."

The CSRC will further create conditions to enhance the inclusion of A-shares in major global indexes to attract more foreign capital, Fang added.

Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China

China, which has issued the largest amount of green loans in the world, will continue to open up the financial sector and facilitate the participation of international investors in its green finance market.

In terms of specific measures to boost green financing, the central bank plans to develop a mandatory disclosure system that would require all financial institutions and firms to follow unified disclosure standards, he said.

"We will step up support for carbon emission reduction by leveraging commercial bank ratings, deposit insurance rates, and a macro-prudential assessment framework," Yi added.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China

Zhou stressed that both digital currencies and digital assets should closely serve the real economy, which is a substantial consideration in China's financial regulatory policy creation.

The development of the digital yuan initially targets China's vast retail market of 1.4 billion people. "We hope to offer the public a more convenient and effective payment method via technological progress."

Speaking of the use of central bank digital currencies in cross-border payments, Zhou highlighted its complexity as every country needs to ensure its monetary sovereignty.

Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Many developing countries are experiencing a debt problem. The countries with higher debt should use new capital to maintain economic growth, and ensure its international rating at a higher level.

At present, the top priority is to control the pandemic. Only a healthy country can have productive powers, and maintain its sustainable development in the long term, Jin said.

"Once the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled, we should return to new and normal investment for infrastructure and other projects as soon as possible. Quality is the most important. We should work together to help developing countries improve the quality of infrastructure, then their debt problem will be solved as time goes on."

Li Bo, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China. [Photo/CCTV]

Li Bo, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China

China considers Bitcoin and Stablecoin as cryptoassets, which means they are not seen as real currencies, but only as investment assets. The nation is planning to improve the regulatory environment for these alternative investments, to ensure that speculative activity will not result in serious financial risks. 

"There is no detailed timetable on the progress of the digital yuan," Li said adding that there are still things to be done before the nationwide rollout of the digital currency, including increasing the number of trials and expanding its scope.

Li said authorities are considering launching trials in more cities and having them cover more usage scenarios to enhance the eco-system of the digital yuan.

Qian Keming, vice-minister of commerce. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Qian Keming, vice-minister of commerce

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, China's trade with countries along the Belt and Road has reached $9.2 trillion, with outbound foreign direct investment of $136 billion.

During the same period, the value of its newly signed engineering contracts with involved nations amounted to $940.9 billion, with business revenue of $638.9 billion.

Over the past eight years, countries along the Belt and Road established about 27,000 companies in China, with total investment of $59.9 billion. During the first quarter of this year, a total of 1,241 new companies were set up, an increase of 44 percent year-on-year, while actual investment rose 64.6 percent to $3.25 billion.

Global cross-border investment experienced some decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Belt and Road investment saw stable growth, Qian added.

Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree Electric Appliances. [Photo/boaoforum.org]

Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree Electric Appliances

For Dong, the era of livestreaming is coming. With the development of internet, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional offline sales patterns have been challenged. The internet not only changed people's thinking, but also their behavior.

Furthermore, in the past, enterprises usually guaranteed product quality via human resources and material. Now, with the help of internet, enterprises can accurately control product quality via big data processing.

Innovation is everywhere, Dong said. If an enterprise doesn't innovate, it will be out of the market. In the era of internet, manufacturing enterprises should face challenges bravely. This is the principle we should stick to. "Manufacturing is the root, however, internet is the wings that can make us fly higher."