Confidence

China's voice is greatly valued on the world stage, said Shen. The Chinese economy has been developing rapidly. The country actively participates in globalization and integrates with the world economic system, gaining a prominent status in the international community. Shen said, "China now is an indispensable partner in the global division of labor. And it is also indispensable in Asia-European cooperation."

While promising its economic growth will remain robust, China, a representative of emerging Asian economies, calls for fair trade and sound economic governance.

"Being a responsible country, China has managed its own affairs well, restored its economy to stability and achieved steady and fairly fast growth in the shortest time possible," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in his keynote speech to the ASEM Summit. He stressed that China is an important engine for world economic growth and has played a crucial role in driving the global economic recovery. "We not only have confidence in meeting the development targets set for this year, but also have confidence, conditions and abilities to achieve development of a better quality, at a higher level and in the longer run," Wen noted.

Wen said as long as Asia and Europe cooperate with each other closely, they can certainly be able to shoulder the responsibility of promoting the steady growth of the world economy. "China has taken a crucial role in global economic governance, helped push forward the reform of the international financial system and extended a helping hand to countries with economic difficulties," he said.

To promote steady growth for the global economy, Wen made a four-point proposal to other leaders: Free, open and fair international trade is an important driving force for world economic growth; enhancing macroeconomic policy coordination remains an important task; innovation in science and technology is a fundamental way to get out of the crisis; and a sound global economic governance system is an institutional guarantee for world economic growth.

Wei pointed out that as ASEM serves as a platform for communication, it will help create a positive interaction between Europe and emerging Asian economies like China by solving frictions between the two sides, so as to guarantee common development for Europe and Asia.

Wei believed that China will play a bigger role in ASEM. "Collective action is always clumsier than bilateral or multilateral interactions," he said. "Several core members that have made bigger contributions and provided more public goods will help guide the collective action of ASEM."