Full text of Chinese President Xi's speech at APEC CEO summit

PORT MORESBY - Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered here Saturday a keynote speech titled Jointly Charting a Course Toward a Brighter Future at the APEC CEO Summit.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Jointly Charting a Course Toward a Brighter Future

Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

At the APEC CEO Summit

Port Moresby, 17 November 2018

Honorable Prime Minister Peter O'Neill,

Chairman Isikeli Taureka,

Members of the business community,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good Morning! It gives me great pleasure to come to the picturesque city of Port Moresby and meet with you on board Pacific Explorer. As we brave the rough waters of the global economy and confront the many risks and challenges, it is all too befitting that we have come together on this ship to chart the course for future development and cooperation.

The theme of this CEO Summit, "Inclusion in the Age of Disruption: Charting a Common Future", couldn't be more important. The world today is going through major development, transformation and change. While economic globalization surges forward, global growth is shadowed by protectionism and unilateralism. A new revolution in science, technology and industry is in the making; but old driving forces are yet to be replaced by new ones. The international landscape is undergoing profound changes, but imbalance in development is yet to be addressed. The reform of the global governance system is gathering momentum, but improving its efficiency remains a major challenge.

The changes we are encountering in the world are unseen in a century. Changes create opportunities, but more often than not, they are accompanied by risks and challenges. Mankind has once again reached a crossroads. Which direction should we choose? Cooperation or confrontation? Openness or closing one's door? Win-win progress or a zero-sum game? The interests of all countries and indeed, the future of mankind hinge on the choice we make.

A review of the world's modern history clearly shows that different choices would lead the world onto different paths.

In the Asia-Pacific, the establishment of APEC is such a success story. Its birth and growth echoed the historical trend of openness and integration, our region's fervent desire for development and our people's need to meet challenges through cooperation. Openness and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific has not only boosted its prosperity but also injected vitality into the vast ocean of global economy. Today's Asia-Pacific has the world's most dynamic and promising economy, which is recognized as a key engine driving global growth.

However, not all that happened in the past are success stories. Mankind has learned lessons the hard way. World War II, for instance, plunged mankind into the abyss of calamity in the last century. Not far away from where we are meeting now are the sites of the fierce Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. Today, this part of the ocean has long restored its peace and calm, but never should we forget the lessons of history.

An ancient Chinese philosopher observed that one needs to clean the mirror before taking a look at himself and that one should learn the lessons of the past before making decisions of the day. In reviewing history, we should draw its lessons to prevent the recurrence of past tragedies. Facing the surging historical trend, we need to ask ourselves: How can we steer the right course for global economic development? How can the international community find an effective way of conducting global governance? I believe it is imperative that we keep the following focuses:

First, we should focus on openness to create more space for development. Economic globalization is the sure way for the human society to achieve development, and the multilateral trading system has created opportunities for us all. In today's world, countries' interests are so closely intertwined, and the global supply chain, industrial chain and value chain are so closely connected. We are all links of the global chain of cooperation; increasingly, we are becoming one and same community with shared interests and a shared future.

This is the working of the laws of economics, a fact no one can change. We need to gain a keen appreciation of this underlying trend of our times and view the changing world for what it is and, on that basis, respond to new developments and meet new challenges in a responsible and rules-based way. Attempts to erect barriers and cut the close economic ties among countries work against the laws of economics and the trend of history and run counter to the shared desire of people around the world. This is a short-sighted approach and it is doomed to failure.

Each era faces problems of its day. Problems themselves are not to be afraid of; what truly matters is for us to take a right approach to resolve the problems. Resorting to old practices such as protectionism and unilateralism will not resolve problems. On the contrary, they can only add uncertainties to the global economy. Only openness and cooperation can bring more opportunities and create more space for development. This is a well proven historical fact. One who chooses to close his door will only cut himself off from the rest of the world and lose his direction.

APEC is a pioneer in building an open global economy. As the Bogor Goals are set for 2020, we should set our sights on post-2020 cooperation and endeavor to build a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). We should say no to protectionism and unilateralism, uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and expand converging interests and share opportunities through opening-up and cooperation.

Second, we should focus on development to deliver more benefits to our peoples. More than anything else, we should strive to deliver better lives to our people. Every country is entitled to an equal right to development; and no one has the right or the power to stop people in developing countries from pursuing a better life. We should strengthen development cooperation and help developing countries eliminate poverty so that people in all countries will live better lives. This is what fairness is essentially about; it is also a moral responsibility of the international community.

We should make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a part of our national development strategies, promote coordinated advances in the economic, social and environmental fields, pursue inclusive development in keeping with our respective national conditions, and forge equal and balanced global development partnerships. Developed countries should honor their commitments on official development assistance and increase support to developing countries.

We should give priority to development in international economic policy coordination and have a clear focus on development when adopting policies and rules on trade and investment, IPR protection, the digital economy and other areas. By doing so, we can create more opportunities and a more enabling environment for the development of all countries as well as robust drivers and a stable environment for global growth. The principle of "special and differential treatment", which is a cornerstone of the WTO, is not to be challenged. Otherwise the very foundation of the multilateral trading system will be shaken.