Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has lauded China’s contributions to global economic growth and called for enhanced international cooperation to reform global governance institutions. Speaking ahead of the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, Brown emphasized the need for bold and innovative thinking to address the challenges of an increasingly interconnected yet fragmented world.
“Amid the seismic shifts we’re all seeing as we become a more technologically interconnected, more economically integrated, more socially and culturally independent world, but sadly, also a more protectionist and fragmented world, at the very time unity is needed,” Brown said. “We have to think boldly and laterally, for if we try to build the present in the image of the past, we will miss out entirely on the great opportunities of the future.”
Brown acknowledged China’s remarkable economic achievements over the past four decades, highlighting its sustained high growth rates and its significant role in reducing global poverty. “Without your effort, the sustainable development goals to abolish extreme poverty could never be achieved in our lifetimes,” he noted.
He also praised China’s advancements in education, noting that the country’s success in providing widespread access to primary and secondary education serves as a model for other nations struggling to educate all children.
Reflecting on his time as UK Prime Minister during the 2008 global financial crisis, Brown recalled proposing the G20 as a new global economic forum, with China playing a crucial role. “This not only led the way to recovery with an immediate agenda to raise, in particular, infrastructure investment to get the world moving forward again, vital actions that prevented recession descending into depression,” he said.
Brown stressed the importance of continuous and institutionalized cooperation to address global challenges such as climate change and pandemic prevention. He highlighted the common ground shared by China, the United States, and Europe in seeking reforms to international institutions like the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“China has been clear on two major points about our international architecture. China wants, as I do, our global institutions to work and to be effective. And China also wants, as I too want, the institutions to be reformed for our new age,” Brown stated.
He expressed support for China’s proposals to strengthen the UN Economic and Social Council and update peacekeeping missions, as well as efforts to promote trade liberalization and dispute resolution through the WTO in concert with regional trade agreements like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
“China, like the West, can support changes to the international architecture that will do more to promote an open world economy,” Brown concluded. “We must strengthen the IMF so that the world has an early warning system that could prevent future crises.”
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China hopes to innovate global governance, not reinvent the wheel
cgtn.com
