The focus of the 16th five-year plan of the People’s Republic of China is on green technology and sustainable development, Yan Junqi told a Continuous Education session entitled “The Evolution of China” in Barcelona last night.
Yan Junqi is vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the11th National People’s Congress, and is a board member of CEIBS, the business school in Shanghai with which IESE has a close association. She was accompanied on stage by Prof. Pedro Nueno and Jan Borgonjon, president of Interchina and also a board member of CEIBS. Yan Junqi said that since the 1970s China had followed the path of peaceful development but that it has learned from its mistakes and now understands that development has to be sustainable.
“China cannot base its economy on sacrificing natural resources,” she said, adding that the emphasis on green technology opens up new opportunities for inward investment. “Chinese integration into the world economy has been very positive. We have all come out winners and foreign investors have done very well.”
She said that China would strengthen protection of intellectual property and overall would move towards being a more open country. “We re going to reduce government interference and promote small business,” she said. “We are going to reform the market for raw materials. We are moving to eliminate monopoly. We want to open up even more to foreign companies. We will contribute to making the world financial system fairer and more transparent. The transformation of the Chinese economy is not something bad or evil for the Western world.”
