China and a changing world

Once known for its ski resorts, the small Swiss town of Davos is now synonymous with The World Economic Forum, which it hosts every winter.

The theme for this winter's brainstorming on global issues - "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business" - dissects the transformation of the world into three areas of change. It is in the context of this triumvirate transformation that a changing China will be a focus of discussions, says a Xinhua News Agency commentary.

Six years after the onset of the global financial crisis the global economy is at a turning point.

Even as national hostilities, racial tensions, regional conflicts, as well as unilateralism and minilateralism promoted by some major countries continue to destabilize the world, policymakers are pondering how to build a mechanism for better global governance and cooperation.

The growing social inequality calls for global reform, as there is a painful contrast between the extravagance of the rich and the struggles of the poor, as well as a yawning development gap between developed economies and emerging economies.

Although a latecomer to the Davos stage, the world's most dynamic economy has lived up to expectations that its rise would play a positive role in the reshaping of the world. Indeed, China has played an increasingly important role on the global stage, as it has developed from being a listener to speaker and doer in the world arena.

While China is being reshaped by the changing world, at the same time it is also playing its part in the reshaping of the world.

At the conference from Wednesday to Saturday, participants will focus on the knock-on effects of the Chinese economy's slower but more wholesome development. They will assess the likely effects of the country's deepening reform and deliberate the global benefits that might result from China's further opening-up.

Attendees will also consider China's positioning in global economic governance and the subsequent influence of that positioning.

In the historical and global contexts, China's story of development is helping the emerging power know itself better, and this greater understanding can be to the benefit of the world as well.