China’s World Expo ‘good for reform’

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Wen declared the end of the World Expo last night at a closing ceremony featuring Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau and three Chinese opera tenors who were surrounded by models wearing hats shaped like Expo pavilions.

Mr Wen said that Shanghai’s World Expo had given the fast-developing country the confidence to keep pushing reform, as visitors flooded the exhibition on its final day.

More than 73 million people – a record for the extravaganza – visited displays by 189 countries during the half-year culture and technology showcase that brought snapshots of the world to ordinary Chinese.

“The success of the Expo has strengthened China’s confidence and resolve to pursue reform and opening up,” Mr Wen told a forum at the Expo attended by Chinese and international officials on the final day.

“China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and stay open and inclusive. We will learn from the fine achievements of all civilisations,” he said.

Mr Wen singled out several national pavilions for praise as he expressed his admiration for the architectural ingenuity seen at the Expo, including the British pavilion, which he compared to a dandelion in the breeze.

The World’s Fair offered China an opportunity to showcase its growing economic and political clout and has been seen in the country as an event on a par with its successful hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the final major leader to visit following a long line of foreign dignitaries, said that Shanghai had “secured its reputation as one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities”.

“Along the way, it has completed a transformation many years in the making,” he said in a speech at the forum.

Mr Ban said he hoped the world would benefit from the openness at China’s World Expo – the first in a developing country – and that the ideas and technology for improving the environment showcased at the fair would be applied.