Globalization arrives at a crossroad with a series of "black swan" events in Western countries in 2016.[Special coverage]
Though economic globalization is a "double-edged sword," blaming economic globalization for all the world's troubles is shortsighted.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday while addressing the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland, "We should adapt to and guide economic globalization, cushion its negative impact, and deliver its benefits to all countries and all nations."
GLOBALIZATION AT CROSSROAD
Over past years, cross-border trade and investment sustained a slump, trade barriers were built higher, regional integration was hindered and immigration policies were tightened in many countries.
Populism, isolationism and protectionism are on rise in the Western world. The United States - once a top promoter of economic globalization - has adopted an inward-looking posture and will be led by a new president who has made anti-globalization remarks. The European Union has been badly hit by the Brexit and throws its own globalization experiment into doubt.
Xi said, "Some people blame economic globalization for the chaos in the world. Economic globalization was once viewed as the treasure cave discovered by Ali Baba in The Arabian Nights, but now it has become the Pandora's Box in the eyes of many."
The fact is that when the global economy is facing downward pressure, it is hard to make the cake of the global economy bigger.
Analyzing the root causes of the sluggish global economy and the problems for which globalization has been made the scapegoat, Xi pointed to a lack of robust driving forces for global growth, inadequate global economic governance, and uneven global development.
Meanwhile, anti-globalization and populism in the West are related to politics that are wrapped up in economic problems and resulting in growing social fragmentation.
SEEKING ADVANTAGES
As Xi put it, "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean from which you cannot escape. Any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technology, products, industries and people between economies, and channel the waters in the ocean back into isolated lakes and creeks is simply not possible."
