南方财经全媒体记者李依农 杨雨莱 博鳌、广州报道

From March 25th to 28th, the world is witnessing the Boao Moment here in China. As we've seen, global development is entering a new phase—one filled with both vast opportunities and significant challenges. Notably, Asia’s leadership in the global economy is growing rapidly. Evidently, regional cooperation will play a key role in shaping the future of global growth. How will China’s economic development, along with its Asian neighbors, drive this transformation?

Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations' Resident Coordinator to China

Asia is extremely dynamic. If I look at the ASEAN countries, which are about 670 million people, and combine with China of 1.4 billion people, that you're talking about, nearly 2 billion people. It's an enormous market. It's an enormous enterprise with great opportunities, and a lot of innovation and best practices are actually being witnessed here.

Now, I am quite confident. I know that post-COVID, there has been a slowdown of the economy, but it has really ramped up because the structural part of the economy is robust and already we are seeing movement on that front. There is more exchange of good services and there is more consumption which is taking place. Now, the important thing is that we have to find innovative ways of keeping that about 5% rate of growth continues to go because that will help us achieve the 2035 Agenda that China has of achieving a moderately prosperous society of 800 million people in the middle-class category.

Now, in order to achieve that, we have to make sure that the transition China is making with the new skills that are needed to advance the green economy keep in mind with the advent of artificial intelligence. Many of the traditional jobs may go away. But that opens up the opportunity for many new jobs to come into play. And we have to find innovative ways to be able to do that. I am quite confident, given the kind of entrepreneurship, and the knowledge, and the power of Chinese young people, who display great entrepreneurship, great abilities that we will be able to get into that direction and get into that space.

So within the Asian ecosystem, I see the digital economy really thriving. I see the green transition really thriving. I see more investment in science, technology, engineering and math happening. But I also hope to see more and more women empowered and more and more women coming into this space to advance the ecosystem, business and growth. 

That is the future, technology and innovation is the future. I mean the five key areas that will drive future growth, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors, fintech, biotech on all fronts. China is doing very well, and that is why we need to build up the capacities around the world, around Asia, to be able to keep in stock with that. Most importantly, we must make sure no one is left behind. We need to make sure that we bridge the digital divide.

As we consider this evolving global landscape, the importance of cooperation becomes even clearer. Asia’s growing influence is reshaping global economics, but the world is also facing new challenges. How can Asia, as well as the rest of the world, navigate these challenges and work together to foster inclusive and sustainable global growth?

lan Goldin, the Former Vice President of the World Bank

The center of global economic activity has moved to Asia. The 21st century will be the Asian century, and that is because of the success of globalization. It is maybe the biggest success of globalization, China's development, but also India now growing rapidly, Indonesia and many countries in the region. Asia shows what can happen if you open up, if you integrate, if you take the ideas from elsewhere, share ideas and are able to benefit from globalization.

But what the pandemic and the Asian financial crisis also showed is that Asia is vulnerable. As Asia becomes a bigger part of both the success of globalization, but also management of global problems, it needs to never forget firstly the part of the Global South. And secondly, no country can be an island. A pandemic of the future can come from anywhere in the world, and the risks we faced by common humanity. I think because Asia has developed rapidly that some countries like Japan that developed (quickly), but even Japan was not a rich country in 1945. It was the World Bank aid and the same with South Korea that created these countries to be high-income countries today. Without them, they would not be what they are today. We need to never forget that and we need to never forget that to sustain this into the future. There needs to be much more cooperation, solidarity. 

I hope that because Asia is a recent development and still many countries in the region are poor and many countries are middle-income, it understands this need for solidarity, this need for improvement, and it also understands the potential of countries that were poor in the past are middle-income today. And we can ensure that extreme poverty is eliminated. It's being eliminated in China. It should be eliminated everywhere. We can eliminate malaria. We can do many things in progress in education by learning from the examples and through Asian solidarity.

I think we will see more disruption in the global supply chains. And we saw it dramatically with COVID-19, so that has already led to the diversification. But I think we will also see that the U.S. is less important in the future than it was. It has made itself less important. This region will be more and more integrated. The U.S. policies will mean that Asian development becomes more Asian, working with Latin America, working with Africa, and I hope also working with Europe. And so it's the U.S. economy where supply chains will be less integrated, not the rest of the world. And I think the rest of the world's supply chains will become more integrated because there will be more investment. 

I think we've learned a lesson in COVID-19, more need for diversification. So we don't only want one supplier. We want two or three suppliers. That means more participants in the market, more cooperation. And my hope is that this will accelerate many aspects of globalization, accelerate not only the integration of investment, of trade, of digital flows, of people flows, but also of cooperation.

As we reflect on the role of Asia in global cooperation, we must also turn our attention to the growing importance of South-South cooperation. Countries in the Global South, while navigating their own paths toward modernization, are increasingly shaping the global narrative. In light of this, how can South-South cooperation contribute to a more inclusive and balanced global order, particularly as developing countries continue to face unique challenges?

Wang Xiaojun, Trust Fund Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC)

Many developing countries are held back by a lack of funds, which is a key issue for them. During the development, they need financial support. However, among the trillions required yearly to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, official overseas funding makes up only a small share and is now shrinking. Funds for development are being squeezed by spending on defense and the military. Therefore, cooperation is more crucial than ever. This includes South-South cooperation, tripartite cooperation, and joint funding by public and private sectors.I think development financing is a key issue in the South-South cooperation.

In recent years, developing countries have become more active in global governance, with their voices growing louder. They have promoted better cooperation initiatives through various multilateral platforms. Moving forward, the Global South should continue to leverage its collective strength in participating in global governance. At the same time, consideration must be given to the diverse interests of over 140 countries within the Global South. For instance, the concerns of least developed countries differ from middle-income countries or emerging economies. Similarly, landlocked nations and small island states have distinct development needs. Therefore, if the Global South can inclusively accommodate the various demands of different countries, it will be able to truly achieve equitable and inclusive global governance. This is the path that should be pursued in the future.

Chief Producer: Yu Xiaona

Supervising Producer: Shi Shi

Editor: Shi Shi, He Jia

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