Investor and philanthropist George Soros forecast in Budapest that China would emerge as a big winner of the global financial crisis.Soros called on Chinese leaders to "rise to the occasion" and take an active role in the creation of a new multilateral financial order urgently required to reinvent the "broken international financial system".
Soros also warned that "the worst financial crisis since WWII" may not be over.
The Hungarian-born billionaire sounded a pessimistic note, saying that those who believe the global economy is stabilizing are wrong. In the lweek-long series of lectures on capitalism and the global financial crisis at the Central European University in the Hungarian capital, Soros spoke of disarray in the international financial system and confusion in the political arena.
Soros urged greater international cooperation and called for a reorganization of the world order to prevent a total breakdown.
"Global markets need global regulations, but the regulations that are currently in force are rooted in the principle of national sovereignty. A new multilateral system needs to be invented that would serve the interests of both the United States and China and of course the rest of the world," he said.
China Daily said he added that it is in China’s interests, however, to submit to a new multilateral system.
He said, "In order to continue rising China must make itself more acceptable to the world, move towards a more open society, combining an increased measure of individual freedom with the rule of law."