China to Remain Big Actor of Present and Next Phase of Globalization: Former WTO DG

By Harry Wu, 21st Century Business Herald, SFC

“China, who has been a major actor of the previous phase of globalization, will remain a big actor of the present and the next phase of globalization,” said Pascal Lamy, Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, President of the Paris Peace Forum and Distinguished Professor at CEIBS, in a recent interview with 21st Century Business Herald.

Lamy stated that China is a major global trading nation. Faced with fluctuations in the international trade system, on the one hand, China needs to continue to promote and accelerate its own macroeconomic rebalancing between production and consumption. On the other hand, China should actively explore emerging markets, expand overseas investment, and optimize its trade structure.

Nowadays the world faces a series of challenges. Lamy found some standardized value chains have become fragile or vulnerable, and there are differing views on the social impact of globalization in different regions. However, he does not believe that globalization is “retreating,” and he considers that the notion of deglobalization is unfounded. He emphasized that the world is transitioning from fast globalization to slow globalization, and while the overall scale of international trade is still rising, the growth rate is slowing.