China urged to contribute more to Asia-Pacific

China is not a "spoiler" in the Asia-Pacific region where geopolitical concerns have been rising, a World Economic Forum report said.

In the run up to the ongoing APEC meetings in Beijing, G20 summit in Australia and the World Economic Forum annual meeting in January, the forum has contributed to the global debate by launching The Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and European Union also unveiled reports, detailing global economic development trends and forecasting a continuous downturn of China.

They say China’s economy may slip to 6.9 percent annual growth in 2016, compared with an official target of around 7.5 percent in 2014.

The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, said that surveyed respondents across the Asia Pacific believe the region faces inherent challenges, including structural economic reforms, effective management of urbanization and geopolitical conflicts.

In recent years much of Asia’s geopolitical tension has been centered upon the South China Sea and on maritime disputes between China and Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines.

But the report said China is not a "spoiler" of regional stability, while urging it to contribute more as a stakeholder in the area.

Kevin Rudd, former prime minister of Australia, said in the report that the roots of Asia’s fundamental geopolitical disputes reside in the low degree of cultural and linguistic identification as a community, and in long-standing historical animosities fueled by unresolved territorial boundaries.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said the nature of challenges the world faces is increasingly complex.

"While the global financial crisis and its after-effects appear to have subsided, the magnitude of other significant global issues continues to increase in scale and scope, such as jobless growth and income inequality," Schwab said.

"Particularly in developing economies, periods of strong growth have helped close the wealth gap between countries, but severe imbalances persist".

Schwab said in the realm of international politics, the world has seen terrorist forces - often appearing without warning - continue to impede progress, threatening stability, peace and prosperity.

"In short, it is increasingly difficult to effectively design policy and drive coherent decision-making," said Schwab. "Our fast- moving, interconnected world requires policy-makers to respond quickly to global challenges and adopt an integrated approach when choosing solutions."