MANILA – China’s rise to a major economic power provided an alternative to the “Western model” of development, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said during the recently concluded Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Hainan, China.
Arroyo said the rapid growth of the world’s second largest economy in the past 2 decades has shown that “no development model can be applied universally and that the diversity of historical conditions determines the development paths that countries could choose.”
“China has given us the lesson that there is just not one path for development because prior to China’s experience, it was thought that the only way to development is the Western style model of Jeffersonian democracy and coupled with a free market,” she said in a statement.
The former president made the comments as she met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
She also praised cited China’s leadership in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, which she said aims to foster cooperation and development. (ABS-CBN News)
