HIGH EXPECTATIONS

As the 19th CPC National Congress will determine the direction of China's development for the next five years and beyond, expectations are running high across the globe.

Tourk, the professor from Illinois Institute of Technology who is also a China expert, said: "My expectation is that the country is going to be more open in the future. And this would allow more foreign direct investment by China overseas and foreign investment by multi-nationals in China itself."

Paul Sheard, executive vice president and chief economist of S&P Global, an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in New York City, expected that China will accelerate reforms that are needed to sustain longer-term growth even at the expense of lower short-term growth.

"China should continue deepening its reforms and legal system construction," said Lins, the Brazilian expert, adding that along with social progress, the process of implementing reforms will meet more difficulties and a firmer determination is needed.

"I believe the CPC has such determination," Lins said.

Others hope that China will play a more active role in addressing global challenges such as climate change and trade protectionism.

History proves that economic globalization and free, open economic policies will bring countries more benefits instead of damage, said Gerishon Ikiara, an international economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

The fact that China's active participation in global economic cooperation and support for open and free global trade have benefited itself and all other countries across the world is a very good example, he added.

Ikiara expected China to continue to play a leading role in shaping the global system of trade integration, pointing out that this will help spur global growth.

For Yukio Hatoyama, former Japanese prime minister, the current most pressing issues facing the world are climate change and environmental protection.

"I hope the new Chinese leadership will play an important role in solving global environment issues," he said.

By: Chen Shilei