Shared vision of the future should come first: former Italian PM

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti attends a conference 'Shaping Our Future' at the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. [File photo: AP]

Mario Monti, economist and former Italian prime minister, says that he welcomes China's commitment to further opening up the country's market and a shared vision of the future in the international system. CRI's London Correspondent Duan Xuelian has more.

In an interview with Chinese media, the former Italian prime minister said that he was glad to hear Chinese President Xi Jinping pledging to continue to open up the Chinese market and stay committed to an open economy.

"The more China opens up the better it is for China itself as well as for the rest of the world. So I welcome the measures of opening up but of course they will have to be followed through."

Monti was speaking at an event to launch the multilingual editions of the second volume of President Xi's book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.

"The second volume of President Xi Jinping's book The Governance of China will be particularly helpful at a time when the world is confronted with so many uncertainties and even unpredictabilities, the fact that a key leader like him presents his long term vision routed in the past and present of China will make the whole Chinese approach to the world better understood and predictable."

The former Italian prime minister said that China's embrace of globalization is offering the world stability in the face of a surging trend of protectionism.

"It's normal that each national leader tries to pursue first the interest of his or her own country. But the problem is that we should be mature enough to understand that even the largest of the countries these days can not become first in a sustainable way unless this is part of a cohesive and harmonious growth of the whole international system."

The second volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China were unveiled at this year's London Book Fair in nine languages including French, German, Russian and Portuguese. More than 300 guests attended the launching ceremony of the book on Wednesday.

For CRI, this is Duan Xuelian in London.