China offers an alternative to the fading Bretton Woods system
In the geopolitical panel on the first day of this year's Eurasia Forum, Wang Huiyao, founding president of the Center for China and Globalization, and Norbert Csizmadia, chairman of the board of trustees of the Pallas Athéné Domus Meriti Foundation, discussed the challenges of the multipolar world order and globalization and how to solve these problems.
China offers an alternative to the fading Bretton Woods system
Geurasia

China offers an alternative to the fading Bretton Woods system

Photo: Róbert Hegedüs
Zoltán Pataki 24/11/2023 13:17

In the geopolitical panel on the first day of this year's Eurasia Forum, Wang Huiyao, founding president of the Center for China and Globalization, and Norbert Csizmadia, chairman of the board of trustees of the Pallas Athéné Domus Meriti Foundation, discussed the challenges of the multipolar world order and globalization and how to solve these problems.

Wang Huiyao began by saying that the world has entered an era of multipolarity, but that the system of multipolar world order is still missing, and that the challenge for the next period will be to develop it. With regard to the Forum, he stressed that Budapest is the perfect venue for such an event, as the Hungarian capital is the "centre of Eurasia". Wang Huiyao also proposed that the Hungarian capital would be an ideal location for the next Belt and Road Forum. In his view, Eurasian cooperation should be based on the principle of connectivity. Connecting the supercontinent is the future. A "super-connective" Eurasia must be created, he said. He mentioned that China is constantly catching up in the field of innovation, citing as an example that 70 percent of the world's high-speed rail network and two-thirds of the world's 5G network are located in China. Wang Huiyao stressed that it is very important that there are again challenges that world powers need to work together to overcome. These included climate change, infrastructure development for connectivity, and the regulation and application of artificial intelligence. This could be a good basis for building a multipolar world order.

In this context, Norbert Csizmadia pointed out that networking is crucial in the process of sustainable globalisation, with connectivity, complexity and sustainability as the three pillars. These are the three watchwords of a multipolar world, he said. According to Norbert Csizmadia, China's Belt and Road Initiative, which turns 10 this year, is the biggest investment in world history.
Photo: Róbert Hegedüs
In response to this, Wang Huiyao said that the current form of globalisation, globalisation based on the Bretton Woods system, is fading. In contrast, there is the Chinese solution to continue globalisation, which offers win-win cooperation to the rest of the world, the Global South. The problems of the current system, Wang Huiyao says, have been recognised by the West, which is why projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative - the US Build Back Better, the EU Global Gateway and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor - have been invented. At the same time, these projects should not be seen as competing but complementary. To this end, Western multilateral organisations, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others, should cooperate with China within this framework.

According to Wang Huiyao, healthy and peaceful competition will help globalisation to serve the well-being of the people, but it is essential to avoid major powers coming into conflict with each other.
Photo: Róbert Hegedüs
The geopolitical panel discussion was moderated by Rong Ying, Vice President of China Institute of International Studies, Márton Schőberl, CEO of the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Yeung, Emeritus President of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, Business School of National University of Singapore, and Cyn-Young Park, Director of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Department, Asian Development Bank, who joined the discussion via video link. Márton Schőberl pointed out that the use of economic relations as a weapon leaves the open economies of Central Europe vulnerable. That is why Hungary is open to cooperation with all partners and seeks to attract investments that will consolidate its place in the international economy, he explained.
#Eurasia Forum
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