Switzerland is known worldwide for its neutrality. This has been recognized by the international community since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. We define our neutrality as comprehensive, perpetual, and armed. This Swiss neutrality means that we do not take sides in an armed conflict between states and do not provide military support to any belligerent party. Switzerland does not enter into military alliances that could draw us into a war. Armed neutrality means that Switzerland can defend itself in the event of an attack.

Europe and China are facing more common challenges than they would admit. The past decades have been accompanied by a fantastic ascent: After the destruction of our continent by Nazi rule and world war, the economic power of what is now the EU increased fivefold from $360bn (1960) to $16,229bn. China, formed in 1949, grew from $59bn to an astonishing $10,866bn. The dynamism and opening of world trade in particular made both players strong.

In 1976, journalist Hans Boller travelled to Beijing shortly after the death of the nation’s founder Mao Zedong. The spirit of optimism under Deng Xiaoping shaped his view of China. In an interview with Katrin Büchenbacher, Boller explains the road that he sees for the country.

The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing is held at a most critical and opportune time when a strong anti-globalization wave in the form of trade protectionism and populism has swept parts of the developed world and the future and destiny of economic globalization is called into question. Here I would like to discuss with you three points on the topic of “Belt and Road Initiative and a New Phase of Economic Globalization”.

The idea of a world currency has been one of the hot topics in economic history. John Maynard Keynes once dreamt of a single global accounting unit. The currency he called Bancor failed due to USA’s opposition at the Bretton Woods conference in fact, where the waters were being tested for the world economic post-war order in 1944.