WEF’s Klaus Schwab Says China Will Be a ‘Role Model’ in the ‘Systemic Transformation’ of the World

Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab addresses the asse
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

The World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab proclaimed that Communist China will likely serve as a “role model” for many countries as the global community embarks upon a “systemic transformation of the world”.

In an interview with the Chinese state-run television network CGTN, World Economic Forum (WEF) chairman and founder Klaus Schwab heaped praise on the communist government in Beijing for being a leading figure in his vision of a Great Reset of capitalism to usher in the “world of tomorrow”.

“I respect China’s achievements, which are tremendous over the last over 40 years, I think it’s a role model for many countries,” the Davos chief said, adding that while he believes countries should be able to choose the system they prefer to live under, the “Chinese model is certainly a very attractive model for quite a number of countries.”

“I look very much forward to having a strong Chinese voice in Davos to explain even better to the world what it means to see the party Congress which laid down the principles of the policy [and] what it really means for global collaboration and for global development,” Schwab added.

He concluded by saying that he has taken “great satisfaction” in seeing the European Union become more “unified” in its thinking following the Chinese virus and the war in Ukraine and that this could lead to deeper ties between Brussels and Beijing.

“I’m very pleased that we speak not only about Chinese-U.S. relations but also again about European-Chinese relations, and I feel despite all the question marks and to a certain extent cautious approach which we see in Europe, I think that very close ties can be established again between China and Europe because there’s such an interwoven economy.”

The comments from the WEF boss followed his attendance at the G20 summit last week in Indonesia, in which Chinese President Xi Jinping finally met with Western leaders after a hiatus in direct contact following the outbreak of the Wuhan virus.  At the meeting, world leaders agreed to seek to expand the health security state at the international level.

“We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates,” the leaders of the G2o nations said in a joint statement.

Though Schwab praised the summit coming to a statement of agreement, he called for more action, saying: “We have to go one step further, we have to have a strategic mood, we have to construct the world of tomorrow. It’s a systemic transformation of the world, so we have to define how the world should look like when we come out of this transformation period.”

China has been at the forefront of implementing a bio-security state since the outbreak of the coronavirus, implementing one of the first vaccine passport apps in the world in March of 2021, after previously imposing a mandatory health mobile phone application, which in addition to sharing health status of individuals with the government also allegedly shared other data collected with police.

China also seems to be in broad agreement with the World Economic Forum on using the issue of climate change to usher in radical changes.

For example, at this year’s WEF summit in Davos, the president of the Alibaba Group Chinese tech giant, J. Michael Evans said the firm, which like all other companies in Communist China is closely linked to the state, will be seeking to implement an “individual carbon footprint tracker” to monitor the behaviour of individuals in terms of their supposed environmental impact.

“We are developing through technology the ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint… where are they travelling, how are they travelling, what are they eating, what are they consuming on the platform,” Evans said.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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