China has grown into a “major consumer power”: Premier Lee Qian
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qian warned on Wednesday that tensions in global trade were “intensifying” when he worked on the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum.
Officials, including Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, are among those attending a rally in the Northern port city and urban city this week.
Li said the global economy is “making a deep change.” This is a thinly covered mention of swing that shakes tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
“Conservationist measures have increased significantly, and global economic and trade frictions are intensifying,” Li added.
“The world economy is deeply integrated and countries alone cannot grow or thrive,” he said.
“In a time of hardships in the world economy, what we need is not the laws of the jungle where the weak are prey to the strong, but cooperation and mutual success in favorable outcomes for both sides,” Li added.
The second official in Beijing also paints a bullish picture of the Chinese economy, the second largest in the world.
“China’s economy continues to grow steadily and strongly support an accelerated recovery in the global economy,” he said.
Beijing “will strengthen its efforts to implement a strategy to increase domestic demand,” he added.
Li said this would “help China’s growth to power generation to major consumer power based on a solid foundation of major manufacturing power.”
Beijing is focusing on growth of around 5% this year. This is a goal considered ambitious by many economists.
The authorities rolled out a series of steps aimed at increasing spending late last year, including key interest rate cuts and steps to encourage home purchases.
But the outcome is changing, as the pressure on trade from US tariffs is added.
“Me First” approach
Li’s speech at Wef Gathering sought to portray China as a solid defender of a system of international trading based on rules currently being attacked by the Trump administration.
His comments were repeated the day before, when the President of Singapore called on Singapore’s Wong to “return to hegemony” and resist protectionism at a meeting in Beijing.
Other leaders on Wednesday shared anxieties about being forced to make choices among superpowers during a new historic period marked by fragmentation and increased conflict.
Wong told WEF President and CEO Borge Brende in the public debate that the government should be careful about “abandoning the concept of economic integration.”
“Unification cannot guarantee peace, but I think it certainly gives us a better chance for peace than our ‘first’ approach,” he said.
Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Ching, hit a similar chord. He pointed out that the United States is Vietnam’s largest export market and China is the largest import source.
When asked about recent trade frictions, Chinch said there was a need to pursue a “balanced” foreign policy that would allow his country to become “friends of all countries.”
“We’re well balanced, but we need to prepare because things have recently become Topsitterby,” he added.