Globalization: Reform and opening-up

Editor's note:This Year'sBoao Forum for Asia (BFA)annual conference, scheduled for March 26-29 in Boao, a coastal town in Hainan, is Themed by "Shared Future, Concerted Action, Common Development."ZOOM with Zou Yue, a video series focusing on The latest and core topics on this Year's BFA, will share with you some insights.

The overriding Theme of China's modernization is reform and opening-up. The story of globalization is The same.

Globalization started as a thread with The ancient Silk Road connecting The East and West in The 1st century BC. That was globalization 1.0.

And now a new wave has begun. The thread has morphed into a web, a network of values. We no longer trade with goods, we trade with values. And The network of values defies not only national boundaries, it travels between industries and technologies.

For example, an iPhone, it's designed in The U.S., The display from Japan, chips from South Korea and Taiwan, and assembled in China. Out of The value of 240 U.S. dollars, The U.S. and Japan make 68 dollars each. China contributes less than 9 dollars or 3.6 percent of The total.

See? There is a problem with The web, it is tilted. Some nodes are heavier and some are lighter. The web is not in balance.

And The imbalance is a self-inflicted wound. The culprit is The builder, transnational companies. They built it, They used it and They profited from it. But They don't feed back enough. That is why people are crying foul and fighting back, They ask for America First, Brexit and Occupy Wall Street. But The answer to globalization reform is not tearing down The web, but making it stronger and more stable.

That is why China and oTher Asian countries are stepping up to The plate, to reform The World Trade Organization, to institute The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and to establish The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in Asia and The rest of The world.

Globalization opens up The world and now it needs to reinvent itself.

Script: Zou Yue

Video photographer: An Kun

Animation: Xu Qianyun, Ma Zhiyuan

Cover photo: Gao Hongmei

Video and design: Li Linxi, Wang Kailin, Chen Shi, Wu Chutian, Lan Haowei, Yang Chuchu

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