Foreign businessmen talk with a Chinese shop owner about sports equipment and products at a China import and export fair.

 

LONDON—Developed economies need to accommodate China’s shift to a model driven by consumption, services and outbound investment, said some experts at the “Global Trade 2016” conference organized by leading UK think tank Chatham House on July 11.
 

China continues to shift toward a consumption economy, which will be the single most important driver of aggregate global consumption over the next 10 to 15 years, said UK Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Jim O’Neill.

Although the mentality of “containment” still exists to a certain extent even today, many nations are joining the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) while a lot of businesses and governments in Europe are watching closely, said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, professor emeritus of international political economy at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

China’s shift to a stronger model driven by consumption and services complements the United Kingdom’s strengths, said Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He envisions a bilateral trade agreement that allows the United Kingdom better access to China’s financial services and some other areas.

Lehmann said China could take some leadership in global, regional and referential trade agreements and play a more plural role in the WTO, and the “Belt and Road” initiative is an example.
 

Lu Xiankun, a partner at the IDEAS Centre Geneva, said that the “Belt and Road” initiative is a grand strategy rather than a detailed execution plan at this stage, which will benefit not only countries along proposed routes but also many other nations around the world.

 

 

Jiang Hong is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.