Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is interviewed during the 2025 Summer Davos Forum in north China's Tianjin Municipality, June 24, 2025. (Xinhua)
TIANJIN, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that China had been probably the most remarkable story of transformation in recent decades, calling on countries to understand and stay engaged with China, rather than isolate China.
In A Conversation with Sir Tony Blair, part of the sessions organized for the 2025 Summer Davos Forum taking place in Tianjin Municipality, north China, from June 24 to 26, Blair said China's huge transformation began with the nation's opening up, and that it was important to understand China by seeing China through China's eyes, not through the West's eyes.
Blair said that there were certainly people who don't want to see a powerful China, but this group, in his opinion, is limited. "People like us profoundly disagree with them. China's got every right to be a major power, given its civilization, its population, its economy, and its technology."
The conversation took place between him and Borge Brende, president and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), who moderated the conversation. Blair made the remarks when Brende asked him a question about China.
Blair, also executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said that based on his institute's work, China was the biggest premium partner for many countries, adding that nations do not want to choose a side when it comes to engagement with major powers.
With China's growing strength in the coming decades, Blair called for strengthened engagement, especially people-to-people engagement on top of government-to-government and business-to-business engagements.
During his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minster Wang Yi on Monday in Beijing, Blair also said that attempts to isolate China are doomed to fail as the world needs greater understanding of China. He noted that Britain and China should strengthen dialogue at government levels and across social sectors, while conducting extensive mutually beneficial cooperation to achieve sustained and sound bilateral development.
The Summer Davos Forum, also known as the 16th Annual Meeting of New Champions of the WEF, carries the theme "Entrepreneurship for a New Era" this year. The forum focuses on five key areas -- deciphering the world economy, outlook on China, industries disrupted, investing in people and the planet, and new energy and materials.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair attends the 2025 Summer Davos Forum in north China's Tianjin Municipality, June 24, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Kun)
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