China to ‘embrace free markets and free trade’, premier says at CIIE

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has pledged to further open the country’s vast consumer market to international businesses after Beijing and Washington reached a significant trade deal that was expected to help restore normalcy to global supply chains.

Addressing about 1,000 government officials, business leaders and merchants at the opening of the China International Import Export (CIIE) in Shanghai on Wednesday, the premier said Beijing remained resolute about supporting globalisation and consolidating its economic ties with trading partners.

“At a time when the world economy is slowing down and international disputes are intensifying, we must all the more adhere to equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, embrace free markets and free trade, and resolve cross-border contradictions and problems through joint development,” he said.

“China is willing to work with all parties to create an open and inclusive development environment, enhance the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, ensure the stability and smooth operation of global industrial and supply chains, and better gather momentum for economic development,” Li added.

In his third consecutive year attending the world’s largest trade fair, Li extended Beijing’s olive branch to multinational companies such as General Electric and Lululemon, encouraging them to bolster their operations in mainland China.

His upbeat statements came after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed to a trade pact in South Korea last week, which included tariff reductions by the US and a suspension of Beijing’s new restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets.