Openness benefits everyone, forum told

The upgrading of China's economy was another major theme of the forum, with China now making major advances in areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics and aiming to be a global technology leader by 2035. That is the goal that was set forth by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017.

One area where China is setting the pace is in 5G technology, the next generation of mobile communications technology.

China is expected to become the world's largest 5G market by 2025 with 460 million users, according to a recent report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers, told the forum that 5G was a major opportunity.

"Traditional sectors need to pounce on the opportunities brought by 5G to upgrade themselves and create greater dividends by significantly boosting efficiency," he said.

Graham Allison, a US political scientist and former dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said there was no need for technological rivalry to lead to international conflict.

"Using Huawei 5G technology, a surgeon has been able to perform remote surgery 4,500 kilometers away. Huawei is a leader in this technology, but the problem is companies in other countries would prefer they were the leader instead," he said.

"It would be better if everyone in China, the US and Europe recognized the possibilities of working together, but everyone wants to be the winner in this race."

Kishore Mahbubani, a Singapore-based professor of public policy and author of Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation, believes China needs to follow the model of some of its Asian neighbors in upgrading its economy.

"It should aim to achieve what Singapore, Japan and South Korea have done, but there is no straightforward path. You have to keep changing, adapting and improving,"he said.

Professor Goldin, also a former economic adviser to the late South African president Nelson Mandela, said the message of openness that came out of the forum was set in motion by President Xi Jinping's speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2017.

"It was a real watershed moment when he outlined that China had a shared interest in the success of globalization," he said.

Ma Si, Cheng Yu and Jing Shuiyu contributed to this story.