Chinese number two Li Qiang said on Sunday that his country would be willing to help expand the “cake” of international trade by opening up more, reported the national agency Chine Nouvelle. Many of China’s trading partners have called on Beijing to reduce its trade surplus, due to its impact on local competition. Exports rose 21.8% year-on-year in the first two months of the year, official data showed earlier this month.
China “will resolutely advance high-level opening-up, import more high-quality foreign goods, and work with all parties to promote optimized and balanced development of trade”Premier Li Qiang told business leaders in Beijing on Sunday, according to the Xinhua news agency. Li Qiang was speaking at the opening of the annual China Development Forum, which this year was attended by prominent business leaders including Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.
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China’s supply in question
The Chinese premier added that Beijing would work with other countries to “joining forces to make the global economic and trade pie bigger for everyone”. He also lambasted the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, which he said “are by no means a panacea for solving problems”. Since the end of the pandemic, Beijing has sought to put its faltering economy back on a more stable trajectory, in particular by stimulating consumption.
Last year, the country engaged in a fierce trade war with Washington after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on several countries, including China. The recent boom in foreign trade represents a lifeline for China, the world’s second largest economy, as domestic consumption activity has faltered, and adds to the record surplus recorded last year. The China Development Forum is being held against the backdrop of war in the Middle East, triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The conflict threatens global energy security as well as China’s oil supplies. Li Qiang told Chinese officials and heads of major global companies that the rules-based international order is experiencing «graves perturbations»while the policy of fait accompli “was raging”. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met on Saturday with senior representatives of multinationals, including HSBC, UBS, Schneider Electric and Standard Chartered, Xinhua news agency reported.
