China's WTO Entry Will Bring New Vigor: CBBC President-- Interview with President of China-Britain Business Council Lord Charles PowellLord Powell, President of China-Britain Business Council (CBBC), just back from his China visit, lately granted an interview to our reporter. Speaking about his China visit, he said that China has by its past 20-odd years' reform and opening to the outside world left a deep impression on him. Very much encouraged by what he had seen in China, he said that the Chinese economy is wholly in dynamic growth. Its WTO entry will instill a new vigor not only into China's economic development but also that of other countries in contributing to an overall growth of the world economy.Powell pointed out that China's WTO entry will speed up economic restructuring and a raise of its competitive edge and that from a long-term point of view it will push ahead the country's economy on an enhanced basis. Its WTO entry will exert positive impacts on the world economy. The whole world will be in the way to warmly embrace China's entry into the big family of the WTO and this is because it is going to inject competitiveness into the world economy. As things stand in China at present, the country has not only by its products with a low cost and low-technology content but has also by its hi-tech products as IT and software products sharpened its competitive edge on world markets. These have been felt in some new emerging and many other countries. Cite shopping in the US for example, you will see a wide range of China-make products all over in many US supermarkets ranging from people's daily necessities to electric appliances though America is a country with an economy most highly developed. This fully demonstrates that China has become a country with great competitiveness to go among other economies around the world. Powell said that after its WTO entry China would with its products come under protection of WTO rules and no country or countries should have the right to exclude products from China. Though facing a sluggish world economy the Chinese economy has kept firm being solely developed at a high stable speed. China's WTO entry must be a piece of happy news to the world economy for a forceful growth of trade turnover to be expected around the world, he said. As president of China-Britain Business Council, Lord Charles Powell has made many visits to China, with a great interest as he has shown in China's economic development. He said that many great unexpected changes have taken place in China over the past 20-odd years since its launching of reform and opening up to the outside world. China's great economic successes have been made not only in a few big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and some special economic zones established but these have also been proved by economic growth in several dozens of large and medium-sized Chinese cities. When asked about his impressions about the changes of mental outlook among the common run of people in China, he said that the Chinese youth have impressed him most strongly by his contacts with them and their pride in the great achievements and speed of construction China has embarked upon. China's WTO entry will prove by itself that "conditions are ripe and success comes" he said. In the end, when talking about the prospects of UK-China trade after China's WTO entry, Powell said that the UK government and his country's enterprises all are attaching great importance to development of economic trade with China. In the last two years, UK-China trade has experienced a forceful growth and this had registered a record high in 1999 and a new high in 2000 with a two-way turnover of over 11.3 billion pounds. Though a sluggish economy is being developed around the world, new breakthroughs are predicted in bilateral trade between the two countries and this is as shown by a turnover of 5.6 billion pounds in the first half of this year. A fact to be noted is that UK with its BT Telecommunications and Shell has had major investment undertakings projected as the biggest investor nation among other European countries in China. As things are now with UK investors, UK has on its part shown great interest in western China development. The China-Britain Business Council lately sets about organizing an investment investigation tour of western China. Now that Beijing is going to host the Olympic Games in 2008 and by this will be meant great prospects for projecting new economic trade ties and cooperation between the two countries, China and UK.. Lord Charles Powell said that several high-ranking Chinese officials have made visits to UK since last year when a greater growth of bilateral trade between the two countries is expected. He expressed the desire that a new bridge is to be built by his China-Britain Business Council to promote a further growth of UK-China trade and that after China's WTO entry UK-China economic cooperation and trade, under a mechanism powering investment, will advance to a new stage of development. As China is going to merge itself into the world economic tide more Chinese enterprises will find themselves along with a multitude of its foreign counterparts with bright vistas and new horizons acquired for new advances to be made in the outer world outside China. By People's Daily Online |
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