Chinese leaders always act on what they say: Blair

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Europe

The former UK prime minister Tony Blair has lauded China's growing global influence, saying the western world should give a new understanding to China.

In an exclusive interview with CGTN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he praised the Chinese leaders, who what he said always fulfill promises.

"It's amazing to me, in the last few years how the world outside China now sees China as one of the key players without whom nothing can be resolved," said Blair.

The speeches the Chinese leaders make are entirely different from western politics, Blair told the reporter.

Western politicians would involve more politics in their speeches, while "Chinese leadership says, 'this is our plan,' and they mean it," he said.

China-UK ties

Speaking on the bilateral relations, Blair stressed the importance of carrying on a robust China-UK relations, saying the ties need to be strengthened, with or without Brexit.

The former UK prime minister Tony Blair talked to a CGTN reporter in Davos, Switzerland. /CGTN Photo

UK Prime Minister Teresa May will pay a state visit to China next week, as part of British government's plan to build a "Global Britain" in the post-Brexit era. Meanwhile, though the EU and the UK have agreed to move to the second phase of Brexit talks, more turbulence is expected in the coming months.

The UK is the first major Western country to join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member, a decision that Blair supported in 2015. He also spoke highly of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, adding that it will be one of the most important projects for the world in the next 20 years.

'Shared solutions to shared problems'

When talking about the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which was held in October last year, Blair believed two important signals were sent after the big event, one is China's firmness on putting forward economic reform to solve more poverty problems, and the other is political stability achieved after the Congress.

Moreover, the theme of this year's forum "creating a shared future in a fractured world" is quite similar to the vision that Chinese President Xi Jinping raised last year – "building a community with a shared future for mankind," Blair believed that the concept of "shared future" is trying to stress the commonalities the world is facing and called for joint efforts to tackle common problems.

The world must not allow problems or disunity or division to destroy the essential needs to cooperate, to work together, to understand each other, and to have shared solutions to shared problems, he added.