Summer Davos urges practical measures to safeguard free trade and Li warns of rising trade barriers

Guests walk to the venue of the opening plenary of the Summer Davos at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Tianjin) in north China's Tianjin Municipality, June 25, 2025. The opening plenary of the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, was held here on Wednesday.
https://english.news.cn/20250625/56f7c6a90764463d8b14f5183ee50934/c.html 

Xinhua

Opening plenary of 2025 Summer Davos held in Tianjin China confident in, capable of maintaining rapid economic growth 

Guests attending the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC), also known as the Summer Davos, in North China's Tianjin, exit the venue after opening plenary on June 25, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

China is confident in and capable of maintaining rapid economic growth, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Wednesday, vowing that the country will always keep the doors wide open and warmly welcome businesses from all countries to invest and deepen their roots in China.

Li made the remarks when addressing the opening plenary of the 16th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC), also known as the Summer Davos, in North China's Tianjin.

Themed "Entrepreneurship for a New Era," the event, held from Tuesday to Thursday, is gathering around 1,800 leading figures from more than 90 countries and regions to explore how entrepreneurship and emerging technologies can unlock more dynamic and resilient economies, Xinhua News Agency reported.

President of Ecuador Daniel Noboa, Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Adylbek Aleshovich Kasymaliev, Prime Minister of Senegal Ousmane Sonko, and Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh would also attend AMNC this year, according to an earlier announcement of Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"Over the years, no matter how the international environment has changed, China's economy has consistently maintained a good momentum," Li said, noting that China's GDP grew by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 despite facing significantly heightened external shocks this year.

China's economic development is not about short-term spurts, but sustained progress toward long-term goals, Li added. He also noted that China is moving toward becoming a high-income country as a whole, driven by strong demand for consumption upgrades in the world's second-largest consumer and import market.

Li said China's sustained breakthroughs and advances in innovation will inject fresh vitality into global development, which will accelerate global economic growth, per Xinhua. 

He also called on the international community to take constructive actions in international economic and trade cooperation.

"Constructive actions mean we need to proactively take measures to safeguard free trade and multilateralism and promote the stable development of the world economy," Li said. The premier called for resolving disputes and differences through dialogue.

Li further said China will continue to deepen its integration and connectivity with the world market and strengthen industrial collaboration with various countries. 

Premier Li's speech has drawn broad positive response at the Summer Davos, as many international attendees recognize the achievements of China's high-quality development and major contributions to global trade and economic growth, eyeing greater opportunities from China's massive market and pioneering innovations.

Confidence in economy

During the Summer Davos, World Economic Forum President Borge Brende shared an optimistic outlook on China's economic prospects.

"I'm relatively optimistic for the Chinese economy, both in the medium-term and long-term. China has already diversified, in addition, China is pivoting from manufacturing of goods to more services and digital trade. We are also seeing a lot of new technologies being applied. China is doing very well in artificial intelligence (AI), on robotics," he said, reported Xinhua.

"There has been a 5.4 percent year-on-year growth in China in the first quarter this year, and the premier said key economic indicators continued to improve in the second quarter. Even though there are a lot of challenges, China is able to overcome them. That's very positive," Bassam Al-Ibrahim, a representative from General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority of Qatar, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the forum on Wednesday.

Now, China is probably at the forefront of innovation from all the technological aspects, and innovation is going to be one of the driving forces for China, especially AI, Al-Ibrahim said.

Joel Ruet, president of the Bridge Tank in France, said Premier Li's speech continued the theme of his speech delivered at last year's Summer Davos - promoting the country's high-quality development and firm commitment to opening-up.

It's reassuring to see continuity in countries including China and within the ecosystem of entrepreneurs, because we live in a world where we perceive many abrupt changes taking place, Ruet told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Driven by the notable strides in advancing innovation-driven development, China's economy has advanced steadily, and demonstrated robust resilience and development potential.

A recent report released by the World Bank showed that China's economy maintained growth momentum in early 2025, and in response to global trade uncertainty, the government has implemented accommodative monetary and fiscal policies. Recently, international institutions, such as J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, have revised up China's growth prospects.

Call for cooperation

As the world economy is confronted with a worsening growth predicament due to the escalation of geopolitical conflicts and policy uncertainty, global leaders from government, business, academia and other fields at the Summer Davos also called for win-win cooperation and close collaboration to deal with challenges.

Robert Koopman, Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer with the School of International Service of American University, especially highlighted Premier Li's emphasis on global trade and cooperation and coordination.

"I think there's a deeply ingrained understanding of the importance of access to global markets, of access to global technology, and the positive spillovers that come from that kind of access and cooperation," Koopman told the Global Times on Wednesday.

 "This is my first time participating in the Summer Davos, and I'm happy to be here to see the various discussions and collaboration between different governments, public, and business parties from around the world," Hisham Aljadhey, president of Saudi Food & Drug Authority, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The event provides an important platform for dialogue where governments and businesses are talking about many key economic issues that matter to the world today, seeking understanding and consensus, according to Aljadhey.

Li warns of rising trade barriers

Premier urges nations to reject ‘me first’ economic policies as global strain deepens

Premier Li Qiang warned that global trade tensions were “intensifying” as he addressed the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Officials including Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong are among those attending this week’s gathering in the northern port city of Tianjin, known colloquially as the “Summer Davos”.

Li yesterday said the global economy was “undergoing profound changes” – a thinly veiled reference to swingeing tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

“Protectionist measures are significantly increasing and global economic and trade frictions are intensifying,” Li added.

“The global economy is deeply integrated and no country can grow or prosper alone,” he said.

“In times when the global economy faces difficulties, what we need is not the law of the jungle where the weak fall prey to the strong, but cooperation and mutual success for a win-win outcome.”

Beijing’s number two official also painted a bullish picture of the Chinese economy, the world’s second-largest, which has been beset by slowing growth and a lull in consumer spending.

“China’s economy continues to grow steadily, providing strong support for the accelerated recovery of the global economy,” he said.

Beijing, he added, was “stepping up our efforts to implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand”.

Li said this was “promoting China’s growth into a major consumption powerhouse based on the solid foundation of a major manufacturing powerhouse”.

Beijing is eyeing growth this year of around 5% – a target viewed as ambitious by many economists.

Officials have since late last year rolled out a series of steps intended to boost spending, inclu­ding key interest rate cuts and steps to encourage homebuying.

But results have been varied, just as added pressure on trade from US tariffs threatens to hit the country’s vast manufacturing sector.

Li’s speech at the WEF gathering sought to portray China as a staunch defender of a rules-based international trading system that is now under attack by the Trump administration.

His comments echoed remarks the day before by President Xi Jinping to Singapore’s Wong during a meeting in Beijing in which he called for the countries to resist a “return to hegemony” and protectionism.

Other leaders yesterday shared a sense of unease about being forced to choose between superpowers in a new historical period marked by increasing fragmentation and conflict.

Wong told WEF President and CEO Borge Brende during a public discussion that governments should be cautious about “abandoning the concept of economic integration”.

“Integration cannot guarantee peace, but I think it certainly gives us a better chance for peace than a ‘me first’ approach,” he said.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh struck a similar chord, pointing out that the United States is Vietnam’s largest export market and China its largest source of imports.

When asked about recent trade frictions, Chinh said his country needed to pursue a “balanced” foreign policy that would allow it to be “a friend of all countries”.

“We have a good balance but we also need to be prepared as things have gone topsy-turvy lately,” he added. — AFP

America First’ cannot deprive other nations of development rights

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT -    

DeepSeek | 深度求索

On Wednesday, the US implemented higher tariffs on nearly 60 trade partners, including a 104 percent tariff on goods from China. This is undoubtedly a serious provocation to the world trade system and a direct blow to the stability of global industrial supply chains. In response, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that the Chinese people's legitimate right to development cannot be deprived, and China's sovereignty, security and development interests are inviolable. On the same day, the Chinese government released the white paper, "China's Position on Some Issues Concerning China-US Economic, Trade Relations." The document points out that the rise of unilateralism and protectionism in the US has significantly impeded the course of normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. It criticizes the US for imposing trade restrictions, such as tariffs, under the banner of "America First." The US policy of unilateralism is not only a blatant infringement on the development rights of other nations but also a selfish and short-sighted approach that will ultimately backfire.

Development is a common pursuit of humanity and a fundamental right recognized by the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All countries and peoples should have equal rights to improve their economic and social conditions and raise the standard of living, with no hierarchy of priority. As the world's largest economy, the US has long benefited from the trade rules, yet when faced with its own structural economic issues, it chooses to shift the burden onto other countries. This is extremely selfish and irresponsible. The logic behind "America First" is rooted in unilateralism and power politics, attempting to reshape the rules of globalization through tariffs, technology blocks, and industrial decoupling. In essence, it is a crude violation and systematic deprivation of the universal development rights of all nations.

The most-favored-nation principle and bound tariffs commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) are cornerstones of the multilateral trading system that was initially led and shaped by the US. They also serve as crucial institutional safeguards for developing countries to achieve fair development rights. Multiple assessments have found that tariffs have dealt particularly heavy blows to developing countries, especially many of the least developed nations. Ensuring the stability and strong resilience of the supply chain is a necessary condition for the economic development of many countries, and foreign trade is an important way for a country to integrate into the process of globalization. However, the US is now preemptively setting up "gates" and "toll booths" along this path, even attempting to monopolize and manipulate other countries' development rights. This represents not only a regression in history, but also a betrayal of humanity's shared values.

The US unilateralism actions have already provoked widespread international countermeasures. Facing the unreasonable "reciprocal tariffs" imposed by the US, China firmly retaliates. It announced the additional tariffs on products imported from the US to 84 percent, effective from 12:01 pm Thursday, fulfilling its promise to "continue to the end" and demonstrating its commitment to defending the multilateral trade system. On Wednesday, a majority of the EU's 27 member states voted in favor of the counter-tariffs of 25 percent to hit around 21 billion euros ($23.2 billion) of US goods in retaliation for the duties imposed by the US last month on EU's steel and aluminum exports. Canada also declared its retaliatory 25 percent tariffs on vehicles imported from the US starting Wednesday. It is evident that even traditional allies are unwilling to foot the bill for "America First." This growing divergence reveals a hard truth: An "America First" approach that undermines globalization won't gain broad recognition and support from the international community. It will only lead to deeper isolation for the US, and the decline of its international credibility and moral standing will be inevitable.

Washington fantasizes about reshaping the global economic landscape through enacting tariff barriers, yet it underestimates its own dependence on global supply chains and the resilience of other countries' economies. Ironically, the "America First" policy has primarily undermined the development rights of the American people. High tariff policies have led to increased costs for US imported raw materials, which not only fail to revitalize the manufacturing sector but also result in shrinking profits or even large-scale bankruptcy for small and medium-sized enterprises. A study by the US-China Business Council finds that in the three years following 2018, the US lost approximately 245,000 jobs due to the trade war. "America First" cannot take away the development rights of other countries; it can only become synonymous with "self-inflicted consequences."

What we need in today's world is justice, not hegemony. Justice means respecting the development rights of all countries and resolving differences through dialogue within the framework of the WTO. The US, under the guise of "reciprocity," is actually implementing an "America First" policy, which not only cannot deprive other countries of their development rights but also exposes the shortsightedness of unilateralism and highlights the necessity of global cooperation. By cooperating to counter the "America First" policy, which goes against the historical trend, as well as firmly opposing various unilateral actions that challenge international consensus, the international community can better uphold the fair development rights of all countries and truly achieve shared prosperity. - Global Times editorial

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The hegemonic anxiety of America First

The World Will Not Mourn the Decline of U.S. Hegemony

In the global political landscape looms a superpower with a military and economic might widely believed to remain unrivalled at least for decades to come.

Yet it appears that in recent years the hegemon -- the United States, or specifically its national security apparatus -- has grown increasingly restless. It sees the irrevocable collective rise of the developing world as a threat and refuses to accept what is natural and inevitable. That bodes trouble for all.

The peerless prowess that underpins the United States' leading role on the world stage stems from a combination of political, economic, geographical and other factors, including a grand vision that allowed it to work with others to establish the current international system.

Yet that strategic sobriety has noticeably given way to a sense of superiority. Three decades of unipolar hegemony has induced a historically ill-founded but deeply entrenched belief in Washington that the United States is an exceptional country above all others, and international affairs should be managed in either the American way or no way at all. Its past success in nipping every serious challenger to its dominance in the bud has only deepened its complacency.

But now with the unstoppable growth and ascent of developing countries, it appears destined that the U.S.-led West will have to share the stage with "the rest." Although the nascent shift is merely a logical outcome of history and does not cost Washington any of its legitimate interests, a self-inflicted anxiety is taking hold of what is called the national security state of America.

Hawkish decision-makers and opinion leaders are drowning out reason and morality in the United States and fanning the fear that America is losing what it is entitled to. Upholding the banner of "America First," the current U.S. government has in a little more than two years shown the world how far it is willing to go in order to "make America great again," although the United States remains the sole superpower in today's world.

Global trade is so far a major battlefront. In the eyes of incumbent U.S. policy-makers, the laws of economics and trade are nothing but a hoax, and any country that has a trade surplus with the United States is ripping it off.

They have waged waves of tariff offensives against not only China, but also U.S. allies like the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Canada, slapping heavy levies on imported products ranging from steel and auto parts to toys and bikes, regardless of rising financial burdens on domestic consumers and businesses, and the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Washington's assault on the rules-based multilateral global trading system is posing a serious threat to future global economic growth. Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist, warned in May that "the latest (tariff) escalation could significantly dent business and financial market sentiment, disrupt global supply chains and jeopardize the projected recovery in global growth in 2019."

The high-tech realm has also witnessed the United States scrambling to secure its supremacy. However, it is trying to do so not by sharpening its own edges in fair competition, but by employing the state power to drive out competitors.

Its unjustified crackdown on telecom equipment provider Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies under the excuse of national security is reminiscent of its erstwhile plot against Japan's once booming semiconductor industry, and widely interpreted as an attempt to sabotage China's standard-setting capabilities in such key areas as the next generation of mobile communications and ensure China's permanent inferiority, at least in advanced technology.

In the realm of geopolitics, Washington's hegemonic anxiety disorder has become even more conspicuous, especially in its policies on the Middle East and Latin America. In recent months, the United States has flirted with going to war against Iran and orchestrating a coup d'etat in Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the current US government is seeking to reap the benefits of being what Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, called a "rogue superpower" while refusing to bear its due global responsibility. Its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal has breached the global efforts to address many of the world's most pressing challenges.

In the post-Cold War era, the West once believed that the world had entered a period of "Pax Americana," where the United States would act as a builder of a rules-based international order and a guardian of peace. However, three decades later, Western countries are disappointed to discover that it has become a big bully pushing the world toward "Chaos Americana."

Given the high stakes, the international community, including the sober minds in America, needs to work together to help Washington make peace with the current historical trend. After all, every nation is part of the planet, every people is entitled to pursue happiness, and every country has the right to developing its economy and technology.

As for Washington, it should, as US political scientist Joseph Nye has suggested, learn the importance of using its power with others, not just over others, in today's increasingly interdependent world.

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Hegemonic practices of US will finally lead to failure

There's a proverb in the western world that self-knowledge is the most valuable knowledge. However, some US politicians, who are just not able to have a clear knowledge of themselves and the global situation, are still stubbornly following the outdated hegemonic approach.

With the strategy of "America first", these US politicians have never cared about the interests of other countries or the common welfare of global citizens.

They started the trade war under the excuse that the US is losing in its trade with China, but keep silent about the huge profits they have gained from the relationship. They make frequent statements that other countries have posed threat on US national security, but turn mute on their globally-reaching intelligence network. They strongly criticize international organizations such as the WTO, but make no mention of the fact that the US is a major founder and the largest beneficiary of the current global governance system.

White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro even said bluntly that other countries dare not to take retaliatory measures against the US because of the great power of the latter. Such arrogance revealed what truly lies under the slogan of "Make America great again".

The bullying and arbitrary practices of the US are supported by the hegemonic logic of the country that US rules apply to the whole world and other countries must compromise to ensure US interests.

From the "economic aggression" theory by US Vice President Mike Pence, to the fallacy made by Navarro that Chinese commodities are mortgaging America's future, and to the statement of former White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon that exporting of Chinese excess capacity gutted the upper Midwest of the United States, these US politicians take normal economic exchanges as "nails" and wish to hammer them. They are not willing to see the Chinese people live in a well-off society just like Americans do.

Under the banner of "America first", some US politicians just cannot keep a lid on their impulses and even started attacking their allies. Not long ago, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel expressed her views on the cracking foundation of the post-World War II order and the deterioration of trans-Atlantic ties. The US is becoming a rival of global countries.

Why the US politicians are still dreaming about the "chosen nation" and "shining city upon a hill"? It's because they still believe in the old philosophy that might is right, and perceives the world with a "law-of-the-jungle" mentality. Besides, they are taking international relations as a "clash of civilizations".

This explains why the US government always calls itself a monitor of global orders and a judge of international relations.

With the irreversible trend of today's multi-polarization, economic globalization, cultural diversification and social informatization, the US is still considering itself a savior of the world and taking the globe as its "backyard garden" where it can act arbitrarily and do everything it wants to. It is even making attempts to stop the building of a community with a shared future with the so-called "America first" policy.

At present, the US hegemony has aroused anger from across the world. Even some US enterprises are making adjustments in reaction to the pressure from the US government. A series of "made-in-America" companies including Harley-Davidson, Inc., have "escaped" from the US, and Exxon Mobil Corporation and Tesla are also building factories in China.

However, the US hegemony is nothing but a wishful thinking. According to American scholar Stephen Roach, the US had merchandise trade deficits with 102 countries in 2018, which reflected the extreme insufficiency of the country's domestic savings - a situation caused by the rash approvals of budget deficit made by the congress and decision makers.

Some scholars attributed the inequality in the US to its wrong policies, rather than economic globalization. Unfortunately, some US politicians made wrong prescriptions, and called other countries a barrier on the way to "make America great again".

Blaming the others for its own mistakes, the US will miss the opportunity for self-improvement and hurt the country and people via the diversion of domestic contradictions.

US scholar Robert Kagan argues that America's decline is being actively willed by unnamed "politicians and policymakers", and they are "in danger of committing pre-emptive superpower suicide out of a misplaced fear of declining power".

No country in the world is willing to be manipulated by other countries in human history. Mutual respect, sincere cooperation and win-win benefits should be the principle held by each country when it comes to international relations.

Of course, it's not easy for the arrogant US politicians to be aware of this. The bright side is that facts don't lie and speak louder than words.

There is an idiom in China that ultimate power incurs humiliation. Any country that deviates from the path of win-win cooperation and sticks to zero-sum games, disobeys rules for fair competition and pressures others, and goes against the trend of economic globalization and resorts to conservatism will end up losing.

Hegemony will only consume the power of a nation and accelerate the process of its recession. Such cases are just prevalent in history.

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Fighting protectionism G20's top task amid trade war

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Fighting protectionism G20's top task amid trade war

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What the market is trying to tell investors?

Second catalyst: Cranes operate on residential buildings at a construction site in Beijing. China’s economic health is the second major concern that could spark off a crisis for Bursa and the world.

IN stock market language, when the charts point to a “dead cross” formation, it means that there is confirmation of a long-term bear market. This is as opposed to a “golden cross” that points to a bull market.

Based on weekly indicators emitting from Bursa Malaysia, a dead cross is coming to formation. The last time this pattern emerged was in the first quarter of 1997 and a year later, the “dead cross” chart was fully formed. By that time, the entire capital market was in flames.

The ringgit fell against the US dollar, banks were in trouble and the stock market hit a nadir of 261 points on Sept 4, 1998.

Technical indicators are no sure sign of market failure. It could change with sentiments. However, time and again it has been proven that the stock market runs six months ahead of what is to be expected in the real economy.

As for the nation’s economy, there is no denying that growth is slowing down. There are governance issues with regards to the handling of public funds.

However, the fact remains that for all the noise the foreign investors make, the Government did not have to pay a premium when it raised US$1.5bil debts a few weeks ago. This indicates that foreign investors have largely discounted local issues.

Nevertheless, the external headwinds are overwhelming and weigh heavy on the Malaysian economy.

It is already showing with the slew of corporate results streaming in. Companies are not doing well, as indicated by Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd chalking up its first loss in 18 years. Property developers that have made a pile from a great run in the last eight years are seeing miserable sales.

Malaysia is expected to see a growth of 4% this year, which is low for a small nation. Nonetheless, we are better off than some of our neighbours.

Everybody is cautious, but nobody is able to point a finger to the catalyst that could cause a severe correction to the stock market. Inevitably, it will stem from the economy – whether domestic or global.

There are several signs that have emerged which need some monitoring.

At the top of the list would be the price of oil that has a close correlation to the ringgit and the economy.

Ironically, when crude oil plunged below US$30 per barrel, the ringgit weakened significantly on the view that Malaysia was an exporter of energy and it impacted the country’s revenue.

However, in recent months, oil prices have recovered to about US$45 per barrel levels but the ringgit is continuing to see volatility. One reason is that the market is not convinced that crude oil will stabilise at current levels.

Conventional economic theory reasons that when oil prices fall, it should strengthen economic activity because the cost of doing business comes down. The International Monetary Fund estimates that for every US$20 drop in price per barrel of crude, the global economy should grow by 0.5%.

However, this is not happening because the major economic superpowers of the world are going through their own problems.

This points to China’s economic health, the second major concern that could spark off a crisis for Bursa and the world.

Nobody can authoritatively put a finger on the state of the debt levels of China, especially those held outside the financial sector. The latest figure being bandied about is that the non-financial sector debt is 279% of gross domestic product, according to data from the Bank of International Settlement.

However, the optimists contend that China’s strong growth supports borrowing. Also, the country is seeing high inflation, which in the longer term will cause debt to erode. In the process of growing the economy, China has adopted an approach to weakening the yuan to export its way out. Every time the yuan weakens, the ringgit falls.

The third indicator is the highly likely scenario of the US raising interest rates in the second half of the year from the current band of between 0.25% and 0.5%. It is a measure which, if materialises, will exert pressure on the ringgit.

The headline numbers show that the US economy is still in the stage of recovery. The unemployment rate in the world’s biggest economy has ticked up slightly to 5% from 4.9% previously based on April numbers, but wage rates are still steady, meaning people are still getting paid well.

People’s earnings are growing at an estimated 2.5% based on latest numbers, which means that inflation will kick in.

At the moment the possibility of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates will not likely happen in the next month or so but there is a strong possibility may happen by the year-end as inflation starts to tick up. This would cause an outflow of funds from emerging economies such as Malaysia and the ringgit would come under pressure.

The fourth catalyst is also tied to the US. This time, it is the fear of Donald Trump becoming the next president. Trump prefers a strong dollar and has hinted of a haircut for those holding US dollar debt papers.

Although Trump has come out to state that he was misquoted on the US dollar debt paper issue, it has spooked investors holding US$14 trillion of US debt papers.

The markets will also watch with anxiety on how Trump deals with policies of other countries such as China, Japan and the European Union (EU) in weakening their currencies to boost the economy.

As the run-up to the presidential elections takes place in November this year, if it becomes increasingly apparent that Trump will triumph over Hillary Clinton, then emerging markets will be spooked.

And finally, the last possible catalyst to cause a global shock is the possibility of Britain leaving the EU or better known as Brexit. Increasingly, the chances of it happening are remote. Nevertheless, nobody can tell for sure until the referendum on June 23.

All the five economic events will have a bearing on the ringgit. Everything points to the US dollar appreciating in the future, leaving the ringgit in defensive mode.

This is already being reflected in the negative mood of the stock market. If there is less noise in the domestic economy on such matters relating to the handling of public funds to governance, it would help the case for the ringgit.

The market is generally correct in predicting the future. But sometimes, the unexpected can happen – such as China handling its debt problems better than expected or Trump not being a candidate for the Republicans.

Such unexpected incidences can quickly reverse the sentiments of the market and the ringgit.

By M. Shanmugam The alternative view The Star

Go to Market Watch

 http://www.thestar.com.my/business/marketwatch/

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Malaysian Minister admits poor education system, students are below par

Minister admits poor education system, says blueprint is the answer

Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh has admitted that Malaysia's education system was below par as shown in global rankings, and cited Putrajaya's National Education Blueprint as the solution.

“It is vital to assess and compare our education system against the international standards. Out of 74 countries, Malaysia ranked in the bottom third in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2009+.

"This is below the international and OECD average,” said Idris, referring to member states in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“Primary and secondary school education standards need to improve, particularly so in bridging the gap between urban and rural areas... at the higher education level, we continue to face challenges mainly in the area of graduates' ability to be employed,” Idris (pic) said in his speech at the 18th Malaysian Education Summit in Petaling Jaya, today.

Idris said the Education Blueprint, launched in September last year and formulated with the help of 55,000 stakeholders, would benefit Malaysia as international education standards continued to rise.

He added that another blueprint for the higher education sector was currently being prepared to among others, to empower university governance, democratise access to higher education and improving employability of graduates.

He also said a “war room” was being planned to ensure that the higher education blueprint, to be launched by year's end, would be carried out smoothly.

"I know the responsibility is great, I cannot shoulder the burden alone. But we must keep on listening, we have to keep deliberating to ensure that Malaysian education is at par ‎at least with other countries.

“But that's not good enough for me.‎ I want Malaysian education to be better than other countries in the world,” Idris told some 200 delegates comprising academics and education stakeholders.

On Tuesday, the annual QS University Rankings: Asia 2014 revealed that Malaysian universities lagged behind those from neighbouring Singapore and Hong Kong.

The National University of Singapore topped the list of Asian countries, but the University of Malaya was placed at the 32nd spot. Other local universities in the top 100 include Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in the 56th place, Universiti Sains Malaysia (57), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (66) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (76).

Malaysian public universities last month were left out of the latest ranking of the annual Times Higher Education (THE) Top 100 Universities under 50 years old.

Four Asian universities were ranked among the top 10 of the world’s young universities, including South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology which took the top spot, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (3), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (4) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (5).

Malaysia, however, failed to get on the list for the second year running. In the first rankings list in 2012, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was ranked 98th.

Malaysia was also absent from the Times Higher Education World Reputation rankings list which was released in March, losing out to other Southeast Asian countries.

Malaysia's continuous failure to feature in any university rankings despite a huge education budget every year has not gone down well with the opposition, which has taken Putrajaya to task for the miserable performance.

The Education Ministry received RM38.7 billion in 2013 and has been allocated a total of RM54 billion this year – the biggest allocation yet.

Contributed BY ANISAH SHUKRY, The MalysianInsider

Malaysian students are below par, says Idris

Malaysian students are below par when compared with their contemporaries in other countries, acknowledged Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

Although literacy rates were rising in Malaysia, it was vital to assess and compare the Malaysian education system against international standards, he added.

“Out of 74 countries, Malaysia ranked in the bottom third in the Programme for Interna­tional Student Assessment (Pisa) 2009+. This is below the international and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average,” he said during the 18th Malaysian Education Summit yesterday.

“Primary and secondary school education standards need to improve, particularly so in bridging the gap between urban and rural areas. Though Malaysia has achieved commendable results in terms of providing access, we have to now ensure that access comes together with quality education of international standards.”

Meanwhile, at the higher education level, he said that the challenge was producing knowledgeable, competent and globally competitive human capital.

“Employers in Malaysia face a major problem when it comes to having fresh graduates fill out vacancies,” he said, citing poor command of English as one of the reasons.

The solution to this is the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2012-2025, which was launched last September, as well as the soon-to-be-released National Education Blueprint for Higher Education 2015-2025 (Higher Education Blueprint).

Idris said the MEB offered a vision of the education system and students’ aspirations that Malaysia both needed and deserved and outlined 11 strategic and operation shifts that would be required to achieve that vision.

“The need for the Education Blueprint is justified in the context of raising international standards; the government aspiration of better preparing Malaysian children for the needs of the 21st century; and increased public and parental expectations of education policy,” he said.

“We have had international experts from the World Bank, Unesco, and OECD to work with our national partners to evaluate the performance of our national education system in the development process of the Education Blueprint. Overall, more than 55,000 stakeholders were consulted in its formulation.”

“The Higher Education Blueprint will also be introduced in order to ensure consistency with the primary and secondary education system, and allow for seamless progression in terms of educational offerings, opportunities and advancement,” he added.

The Higher Education Blueprint will address challenges such as empowering university governance, democratising access to higher education and improving graduate employability.

contribute by Jeannette Goon The Star/Asia News Network

Here's The New Ranking Of Top Countries In Reading, Science, And Math:

The OECD is out with new global rankings of how students in various countries do in reading, science, and math. Results of the full survey can be found and delved into here.

You can see below how Asian countries are obliterating everyone else in these categories.

The United States, meanwhile, ranks below the OECD average in every category. And as the WSJ notes, the US has slipped in all of the major categories in recent years:

The results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which are being released on Tuesday, show that teenagers in the U.S. slipped from 25th to 31st in math since 2009; from 20th to 24th in science; and from 11th to 21st in reading, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which gathers and analyzes the data in the U.S.

Here are the top countries

Sources: Business Insider.com
 
Related:

Always in sight, forever in my heart

Related posts:

• Asian students dominate global exam; Are Chinese cheating PISA or are we cheating sourselves?

• Malaysia, US, UK and Australia lag in global education rankings as China and Asian countries rise to the top

Asian students dominate global exam; Are the Chinese cheating in PISA or are we cheating ourselves?

Memento: In this file photo, parents take pictures of their children outside a high school in Beijing after they finished their national college exams. — AP

AS a ninth-grader, Shanghai’s Li Sixin spent more than three hours on homework a night and took tutorials in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry on the weekends.

When she was tapped to take an exam last year given to half a million students around the world, Sixin breezed through it. “I felt the test was just easy,” said Sixin, who was a student at Shanghai Wenlai Middle School at the time and now attends high school.

The long hours which focused on schoolwork — and a heavy emphasis on test-taking skills — help explain why young students like Sixin in China’s financial hub once again dominated an international test for 15-year-olds called the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa).

Students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan — all from Asia — were right behind. In the wealthy city of Shanghai, where affluent families can afford to pay for tutors, the results are not representative of China overall, although they are ranked as a group alongside national averages for countries such as the United States and Japan.

Still, they are indicative of education trends in China and elsewhere in Asia — societies where test results determine entrance into prestigious universities and often one’s eventual career path.

Shanghai scored an average of 613 on Maths, as compared with the nearest rival Singapore (573), and the global average of 494. Hong Kong ranked third in Maths, scoring 561, while Japan was ranked seventh and scored 536. The test is given every three years.

In China, educators say hard work is key to their students’ impressive showing. “They listen carefully in the class and do their homework,” said Bai Bing, the headmaster of Sixin’s school, where about 40 students were chosen to take the global test.

Still, Chinese educational experts say the results are at most partial and covers up shortcomings in creating well-rounded, critical thinking individuals. “This should not be considered a pride for us because overall, it still measures one’s test-taking ability. You can have the best answer for a theoretical model but can you build a factory on a test paper?” asked Xiong Binqi, a Shanghai-based scholar on education.

“The biggest criticism is that China’s education has sacrificed everything else for test scores, such as life skills, character building, mental health, and physical health,” said Xiong.

“Shanghai is an exception, and it is by no means representative of China,” said Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal at the High School Attached to Tsinghua University in Beijing. “It’s an international city where its residents pay great attention to education and where there are many universities.”

Affluent Shanghai parents annually spend an average of 6,000 yuan (RM3,190) on English and Math tutors and 9,600 yuan (RM5,100) on weekend lessons.

Shanghai Normal University president Zhang Minxuan said Pisa does not measure students’ social abilities, physical health and aesthetics, and he cautioned against extrapolating to the rest of the country.

“Shanghai students’ top placement in Pisa is no proof of equal development of education in China,” he said, as reported by Shanghai Education News. “There’s no denying, China’s education still has a long way to go.”

By Didi Tang — AP
  
Are the Chinese cheating in PISA or are we cheating ourselves?

Andreas Schleicher

Whenever an American or European wins an Olympic gold medal, we cheer them as heroes. When a Chinese does, the first reflex seems to be that they must have been doping; or if that's taking it too far, that it must have been the result of inhumane training.

There seem to be parallels to this in education. Only hours after results from the latest PISA assessment showed Shanghai's school system leading the field, Time magazine concluded the Chinese must have been cheating. They didn't bother to read the PISA 2012 Technical Background Annex, which shows there was no cheating, whatsoever, involved. Nor did they speak with the experts who had drawn the samples or with the international auditors who had carefully reviewed and validated the sample for Shanghai and those of other countries.

Others were quick to suggest that resident internal migrants might not be covered by Shanghai's PISA sample, because years ago those migrants wouldn't have had access to Shanghai's schools. But, like many things in China, that has long changed and, as described by PISA, resident migrants were covered by the PISA samples in exactly the way they are covered in other countries and education systems. Still, it seems to be easier to cling to old stereotypes than keep up with changes on the ground (or to read the PISA report).

True, like other emerging economies, Shanghai is still building its education system and not every 15-year-old makes it yet to high school. As a result of this and other factors, the PISA 2012 sample covers only 79 per cent of the 15-year-olds in Shanghai. But that is far from unique. Even the United States, the country with the longest track record of universal high-school education, covered less than 90 per cent of its 15-year-olds in PISA – and it didn't include Puerto Rico in its PISA sample, a territory that is unlikely to have pulled up US average performance.

International comparisons are never easy and they are never perfect. But anyone who takes a serious look at the facts and figures will concede that the samples used for PISA result in robust and internationally comparable data. They have been carefully designed and validated to be fit for purpose in collaboration with the world's leading experts, and the tests are administered under strict and internationally comparable conditions. Anyone who really wants to find out can review the underlying data.

Short of arguments about methodology, some people turn to dismissing Shanghai's strong performance by saying that Shanghai's students are only good on the kind of tasks that are easy to teach and easy to test, and that those things are losing in relevance because they are also the kind of things that are easy to digitise, automate and outsource. But while the latter is true, the former is not. Consider this: Only 2 per cent of American 15-year-olds and 3 per cent of European ones reach the highest level of math performance in PISA, demonstrating that they can conceptualise, generalise and use math based on their investigations and apply their knowledge in novel contexts. In Shanghai it is over 30 per cent. Educators in Shanghai have simply understood that the world economy will pay an ever-rising premium on excellence and no longer value people for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know.

PISA didn't just test what 15-year-olds know in mathematics, it also asked them what they believe makes them succeed. In many countries, students were quick to blame everyone but themselves: More than three-quarters of the students in France, an average performer on the PISA test, said the course material was simply too hard, two-thirds said the teacher did not get students interested in the material, and half said their teacher did not explain the concepts well or they were just unlucky. The results are very different for Shanghai. Students there believe they will succeed if they try hard and they trust their teachers to help them succeed. That tells us a lot about school education. And guess which of these two countries keeps improving and which is not? The fact that students in some countries consistently believe that achievement is mainly a product of hard work, rather than inherited intelligence, suggests that education and its social context can make a difference in instilling the values that foster success in education.

And even those who claim that the relative standing of countries in PISA mainly reflects social and cultural factors must concede that educational improvement is possible: in mathematics, countries like Brazil, Turkey, Mexico or Tunisia rose from the bottom; Italy, Portugal and the Russian Federation have advanced to the average of the industrialised world or close to it; Germany and Poland rose from average to good; and Shanghai and Singapore have moved from good to great. Indeed, of the 65 participating countries, 45 saw improvement in at least one subject area. These countries didn't change their culture, or the composition of their population, nor did they fire their teachers. They changed their education policies and practices. Learning from these countries should be our focus. We will be cheating ourselves and the children in our schools if we miss that chance.

International comparisons are never easy and they aren't perfect. But PISA shows what is possible in education, it takes away excuses from those who are complacent, and it helps countries see themselves in the mirror of the educational results and educational opportunities delivered by the world's leaders in education.
The world has become indifferent to tradition and past reputations, unforgiving of frailty and ignorant of custom or practice. Success will go to those individuals, institutions and countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain and open to change. And the task for governments is to help citizens rise to this challenge. PISA can help to make that happen.

Andreas Schleicher is deputy director for Education and Skills, and special adviser on education policy to the OECD's Secretary General.

In response to criticisms and questions regarding the validity of high scores achieved by 15-year-olds from Shanghai, China, in the recent PISA assessment, he posted this article to the OECD's education blog http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.fr/.

Sources: The Sydney Morning Herald

Related post:
 Malaysia, US, UK and Australia lag in global education ranking as China and Asian countries rise to the top