Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday called the West’s efforts to de-risk its economies a “wrong proposal,” hitting back at US and EU policies aimed at reducing their dependence on China.
The United States and the European Union have taken steps in recent months to de-risk the world’s second largest economy.
“In the West, some people are promoting what is called ‘trust reduction and risk reduction,'” Li told delegates at the opening of a World Economic Forum meeting in north China.
“These two concepts … are a false proposition, because the development of economic globalization means that the world economy has become a common entity in which you and I are both mixed up,” he said in a wide-ranging speech, in which he called for deepening economic globalization and cooperation.
“The economies of many countries are intertwined, rely on each other, achieve mutual success and develop together,” he added.
Advertisements – Scroll to continue
“That’s actually a good thing, not a bad thing.”
This week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in the port city of Tianjin – colloquially known as “Summer Davos” – is the first of its kind after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. It will last until Thursday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January described the EU’s approach to China as “risk mitigation rather than decoupling” as the bloc still aspires to work and trade with Beijing.
Advertisements – Scroll to continue
And President Joe Biden has maintained former leader Donald Trump’s tough line on China and gone beyond it in some areas, including banning high-end semiconductor exports to the rising power.
In response to Beijing’s fierce criticism of the move, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed in Beijing last week that the United States is not seeking “economic containment” of China.
“But at the same time,” he said, “it is not in our interest to provide China with technology that could be used against us.”
Advertisements – Scroll to continue
China is on track to meet its 5 percent target for economic growth in 2023 set by Beijing earlier this year, Li also told the audience at the forum, which included leaders from New Zealand, Mongolia, Vietnam and Barbados large delegation from Saudi Arabia.
“For the year as a whole, we assume that we will achieve the target of economic growth of around five percent set at the beginning of this year,” Li said.
“We are fully confident and capable of driving the stable and long-term development of China’s economy along the path of high-quality development in the relatively long term.”
Advertisements – Scroll to continue
China has been grappling with a slowing post-COVID recovery, with a series of lackluster indicators in recent weeks suggesting the recovery is running out of steam.
Beijing’s central bank cut interest rates twice last week to counteract the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
And reports this month suggest that Beijing is planning a series of measures targeting several sectors of the economy, particularly the real estate sector, which accounts for a large part of gross domestic product.
Beijing set an economic growth target of “around five percent” in March, one of the lowest in decades, as the country moved past strict zero-Covid rules that hampered business activity.
Premier Li admitted at the time that the goal was “not an easy task”.
Comments are closed.