Aware of the emergence of the global economic power of China, President Arroyo is counting on the entrepreneurial spirit of Chinese community to help perk up the world economy.

At the 10th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention at the Philippine International Convention Center, the President recognized that Chinese businessmen have contributed to ease the blow of the global financial crisis and encouraged them to help bring the world out of recession.

In highlighting their role in global economic recovery, Mrs. Arroyo said Chinese businessmen have keen business sense and work ethics “to help breath new life into the world economy.”

“You are one reason why the world will bounce back from the world economic crisis. My message to you is let us do everything in power in government and in business to ensure we don’t back in the same pattern as before,” she told the crowd of more than 3,000 Chinese entrepreneurs from 20 nations in the forum.

Mrs. Arroyo said the Philippines and other economies with large Chinese community have survived the global financial crisis with greater resilience.

“We are on a solid comeback,” she said, adding that the situation would have been worse if not for the unpopular yet necessary fiscal reforms implemented a few years ago. The same economic reforms, she added, were supported by the influential Filipino-Chinese business community.

“Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs possess a sharp business sense, the keen ability to discover opportunities to offer goods and services that improve lives, the courage to take risks, the work ethic, focus and determination to attain your goals,” she said.

“These are the qualities that have made the Filipino-Chinese crucial to Philippine development and have made them also major contributors to our country’s unprecedented growth over 34 consecutive quarters during my administration,” she added.

Learning from the mistakes of the past, she said the government and the rest of the world are looking for solutions to reform the global financial system to prevent a repeat of the credit crunch.

As far as the business sector is concerned, I believe in the Chinese entrepreneurs and what they can do to change the world,” she said. She noted that every businessman has also experienced the devastation of the sluggish world economy.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government and private sector must also diversify economy and work on greater cooperation to become self-sufficient.

“It would be a travesty for finance entrepreneurs to revert to the old ways and not look back at the destruction that the financial system wrought through reckless disregard for the global good,” she said.

For many decades, the President said China has become an integral part of Philippine life, citing the involvement of Filipino-Chinese not only in business but also in government and civic work.

Many Chinese leaders have also visited the country in the last eight years that helped cement bilateral relations with the Philippines, she added.

Mrs. Arroyo also took pride that her husband, Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo, and her children have Chinese descent. During the Spanish period, she said the ancestors of Mr. Arroyo fought the British and “was rewarded by the Spanish government with nobility title along with vast tracks of land.”

Among the Filipino-Chinese in government are Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Commission on Information and Communications Technology chair Rey Chua, Philippine Sports Commission chair Harry Angping and his wife, Manila Rep. Zenaida Angping, she said.