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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Globalization has again thrust into the spotlight on the world stage, after Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out his plan Tuesday to lead global efforts in charting the course of economic globalization at the 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Here's how worldwide elites review globalization and also the prospect of Chinese economy in 2017.
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), argued at the meeting that globalization needs to take "a new turn" and we need more analytical work how jobs are being lost to new technologies.
"To turn our back to globalization, to helping development, is entirely the wrong approach," she said.
John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, acknowledged that certain "anxieties" were building in society as a result of the financial crisis and globalization, but that these had prompted some politicians to "blame the wrong targets."
Echoing President Xi's speech, he added that "trade is not the most culpable entity for the loss of jobs."
Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS, agreed that President Xi's speech on globalization and free trade was "very encouraging."
"Essentially, he said that we should not blame all the world's problems on globalization and that the benefits outweigh the costs," he said at the meeting.
Jack Ma, founder of the world's largest online retailer Alibaba, responded to America's growing globalization backlash on the second day of the Davos 2017 meeting, arguing that it's not globalization and everything that comes along with it, like free trade and outsourcing, that's to blame for America's woes.
"It's not that other countries steal American jobs; it is your strategy that you did not distribute the money in a proper way."
In fact, Ma remains hopeful that globalization can still be a great force for good, but it needs to be improved.
"It should be inclusive globalization," he added.
Hans Paul Burkner, the chairman of the Boston Consulting Group, also expressed his support on inclusive growth, saying that the world's leaders need to focus on one thing: delivering inclusive growth.
Burkner acknowledged that while globalization has been glorious for billions of people, for some, it hasn't been glorious at all. "Or, at least, that's their perception," he wrote in an article published on the official website of the Davos meeting.
As a result, the world risks going into reverse, he added, "this must not be allowed to happen."
"It would be an utter disaster if globalization was stopped in its tracks," the chairman said.
The chairman of the world's leading consulting company also told Xinhua in an interview that China has been a locomotive of growth, especially for the emerging world, but really for the whole world.
A more positive perspective of China is an accurate one, he added.
Zhang Yuyan, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, concluded that trade protectionism, populism and nationalism can quell public dissatisfaction for the time being, but in the long run, they will harm the overall interests of all.
Outside Davos, Lenni Montiel, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, told Xinhua that Xi sent "a strong message" to the world by defending globalization and condemning protectionism in his speech delivered at the forum.
"That (if going back to protectionism) will definitely affect the well-being of the population, and definitely affect the rate of economic growth," he said.
