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

Third, we should focus on inclusiveness and promote interactions. We live on the same planet. It is home to more than 200 countries and regions, 2,500-plus ethnic groups and over 7 billion people. Trying to erase their differences will not work. Such differences are not a hindrance to exchanges, still less a cause for confrontation. Diversity and interaction between different civilizations, social systems and paths can provide strong impetus for human progress. We should reject arrogance and prejudice, be respectful of and inclusive toward others, and embrace the diversity of our world. We should seek common ground while putting aside differences, draw upon each other's strengths and pursue co-existence in harmony and win-win cooperation.

When it comes to choosing a development path for a country, no one is in a better position to make the decision than the people of that country. Just as one does not expect a single prescription to cure all diseases, one should not expect a particular model of development to fit all countries. Blindly copying the development model of others will only be counterproductive, so will be any attempt to impose one's own development model on others.

Fourth, we should focus on innovation to tap new sources of growth. Breakthroughs are being made one after another in frontier areas such as information technology, life sciences, smart manufacturing and green energy, and new materials, new products and new business forms are replacing existing ones at a faster pace. Big data, 3D printing and artificial intelligence, which we read about only in science fiction in the past, are now part of our daily life. The future is already with us.

In a boat race, those who row the hardest will win. If we do not move proactively to adapt to the surging tide of new scientific revolution and industrial transformation, we risk missing valuable opportunities or even falling behind the times. What we should do is to lose no time in making every effort to explore new growth drivers and development paths, and remove all institutional obstacles holding back innovation. We should boost innovation and market vitality and deepen international exchanges and cooperation on innovation so as to better meet our respective and common challenges in development.

The sweeping new scientific revolution and industrial transformation will have a profound impact on the mode of production, way of life and values of human society. The need to strike a balance between equity and efficiency, capital and labor, technology and employment has become a common challenge for the international community. If not handled properly, this issue will further widen the wealth gap between the North and the South. We should gain a keen understanding of the complex dimensions of this issue and make the right decision. This will enable us to steer the new scientific revolution and industrial transformation in the right direction.

Scientific and technological innovations should meet people's needs. Every country is entitled to benefit from such innovations made through both their own efforts and international cooperation. Scientific and technological innovations should not be locked up or become profit-making tools for just a few. The IPR regime is designed to protect and encourage innovation, not to create or widen the scientific and technological divide. We should develop policy institutions and systems that are responsive to the new scientific revolution and industrial transformation, and foster an enabling environment for international cooperation that will deliver the fruits of innovation to more countries and peoples.

Fifth, we should focus on a rules-based approach to improve global governance. With the painful lessons of two world wars in mind, countries established the global governance framework underpinned by the United Nations and composed of the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and other institutions. This framework, while not an ideal one, represents an important step in human history. Indeed, it has been pivotal to global peace and development in the past decades. We must strengthen rules-based global governance if we are to achieve stability and development. Rules should be formulated by the international community, not in a might-is-right way. Once the rules are made, they should not be followed or bent as one sees fit, and they should not be applied with double standards for selfish agendas.

For the system of global economic governance to be equitable and efficient, it must keep up with the times. We should advance the reform of the global governance system on the principle of conducting consultation and collaboration for shared benefits. This reform should be advanced on the basis of equality, openness, transparency and inclusiveness. Developing countries should have more say and greater representation in this process. Disagreements should be resolved through consultation. Attempts to form exclusive blocs or impose one's will on others should be rejected. History has shown that confrontation, whether in the form of a cold war, a hot war or a trade war, will produce no winners. We believe that there exist no issues that countries cannot resolve through consultation as long as they handle these issues in a spirit of equality, mutual understanding and accommodation.