Boao Forum boosts int'l cooperation amid conflict-ridden world, say analysts

BUENOS AIRES, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) promotes a collaborative outlook between countries and is of particular significance in today's conflict-ridden world, political observers have said.

The BFA Annual Conference 2022, held last week in south China's Hainan Province, offers an "essential" mechanism for dialogue in Asia and transcends beyond regional borders by contributing to global governance, according to Maya Alvisa, a professor of Chinese history and culture at the University of Buenos Aires.

"The forum offers an important space for regional dialogue to build a cooperative outlook that safeguards common interests at a time when the world is still being hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and now faces a growing crisis due to the conflict in Ukraine and policies that favor imposing regional views, unilateral sanctions and competition," Alvisa told Xinhua.

"World governance and global cooperation are today not an option, but a fundamental necessity in a highly interconnected world where events occurring in one part of the world inevitably have repercussions in other parts of the world," said Alvisa, who also teaches a postgraduate course on contemporary China at the Argentine Catholic University.

By promoting cooperation, the forum offers a valuable tool to spur development in education, public healthcare, security and defense, and in regions that deserve special attention and coordinated international efforts.

As "Asia is essential to the global economy," the forum takes on even greater significance, she said.

Alvisa said China continues to pursue a development policy that benefits the whole world and is accompanied by an "auspicious" concept of sustainable and balanced development in the pursuit of building a community with a shared future for humankind.

"The understanding of the responsibility that entails being, to a great extent, the engine of the world economy, and promoting a policy of economic openness, thinking and acting in the sense of being part of a whole, makes it an important agent that generates hope with respect to harmonious growth at a global level," said Alvisa.

Echoing Alvisa's point, Argentine government adviser Lucas Gualda highlighted China's commitment to defending multilateralism and global cooperation despite current conflicts.

At the forum, China "reminds the world that the pandemic is not over yet and to effectively control it, all nations must address the situation with the necessary urgency," said Gualda.

"This crisis has exposed the interdependence that unites the world," Gualda said, "and that impacts all aspects of our lives."