Globalization is a major historical trend that goes beyond the will of men, said Lu Shaye, Chinese ambassador to France, at a meeting with French entrepreneurs.
Lu made his remarks when presenting China's policy on globalization at a forum organized by the Movement of the Enterprises of France, the largest employer federation in France.
The forum organized by the federation on Aug. 28-29 for debates and exchanges has gathered over 7,000 business leaders, journalists and opinion leaders.
As an inevitable consequence of industrialization and scientific-technological progress, globalization has also led to growing disparities within and between countries, said Lu.
These problems are not inherent in globalization per se, but rather a result of the fact that some developed countries failed to fairly distribute the dividends of globalization to improve their competitiveness and to pay their workers in a fair way, he added.
Some developing countries have not devoted the dividends of their labor and resources to the necessary development of their infrastructure and production capacity, the ambassador noted.
For these countries, anti-globalism will solve nothing but "throw the baby with the bath water," he said.
Speaking of China's development, the Chinese diplomat said that China has developed so quickly largely because it knew how to catch the tailwind of globalization and was able to maximize its assets to achieve this giant leap.
"We have invested every penny of the dividends obtained from globalization into our development to build a diversified industrial structure which meets the entire UN classification as well as a world-class infrastructure network, both in terms of coverage and quality. In addition, we have brought over 700 million people out of poverty," he said. "China's success is based on the hard work of over 1 billion people."
On the China-U.S. trade dispute, Lu said that "our position has always been the same: we do not want the trade war, but if we are forced to do so, we will do it."
"We are willing to negotiate with the United States in a spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit to address their concerns, especially with regard to the trade deficit. But there is no question of sacrificing our fundamental interests just for the sake of reaching an agreement," he stressed.
The Chinese economy is strong and resilient enough to face the risks and threats from the trade dispute, he said.
