Chinese premier criticizes West’s risk-averse campaign at ‘Summer Davos’

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Chinese Premier Li Qiang has criticized Western efforts to limit trade and commercial ties with the country and promoted international economic cooperation in a speech, describing de-risking as a “false proposition”.

“Governments should not exaggerate the concept of risk or turn it into an ideological tool,” Li said in a keynote address at a World Economic Forum event on Tuesday. In which he criticized the “politicization of economic issues”. ,

Lee warned that “some people in the West” are “pumping up the enthusiasm.” , , reducing dependency and reducing risk” and said such efforts were a “false proposition”, arguing that businesses were in the best position to assess risk.

His speech, delivered in front of an international audience, which has been rare in China since the start of the pandemic, provided an unusually candid response from Beijing’s highest levels to a series of Western policies aimed at China’s corporate and Economic risk has to be limited as geopolitical. Relationships break.

Relations between the US and China, already at their worst in decades, deteriorated sharply this year after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon in February. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also increased international attention to the possibility of conflict over Taiwan.

The US and China have recently attempted to stabilize their ties with a series of meetings between senior officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing this month. But that effort was quickly cut short by US President Joe Biden calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator”.

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum’s new champions, known as “Summer Davos,” is taking place this week in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin for the first time in four years.

It is being attended by New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, besides some top US business leaders. Other international conferences held in China since the country’s reopening have taken a similarly cautious approach amid political tensions.

Chinese policymakers and provincial governments have been encouraging foreign investment this year as they face a challenging economic backdrop after three years of pandemic isolation under the country’s zero-Covid regime. Several high-profile foreign business leaders have recently traveled to China, including Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla chief Elon Musk and JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon.

Li, who visited France and Germany last week, stressed the need for cooperation and communication, noted China’s “deep integration” into the world economy and said the country had developed by “embracing globalization”.

China’s economic data disappointed this year due to slowing trade and a weak asset sector, while domestic consumption failed to pick up pace after the sudden lifting of COVID-19 restrictions late last year.

Policymakers cut benchmark interest rates this month in an effort to stimulate growth, but economists expect more support measures in the coming months.

Li said Tuesday that the economy is on track to meet its official growth target this year of 5 percent, the lowest in decades.

Before his promotion to China’s second most powerful post in November, Li was the Chinese Communist Party’s top official in Shanghai and oversaw one of the country’s harshest lockdowns last year.