China’s premier pledges further market opening
BEIJING: China will open up its economy further, and its door to the outside will only get wider, with foreign and domestic firms allowed to compete on an equal footing, Premier Li Keqiang said at the close the country’s annual parliament session yesterday.
The familiar-sounding pledges from Beijing came as the prospect of a global trade war loomed in the wake of US President Donald Trump imposition of hefty import tariffs on steel and aluminium earlier this month.
By the end of this week, according to sources in Washington, the United States is expected to unveil new tariffs on up to US$60 billion worth of Chinese technology and consumer goods annually, fulfilling Trump’s campaign promises to get tough on China and its trade practices.
“I hope both China and the US will act rationally, and not be led by emotions, and avoid a trade war,” Li told reporters in a televised news conference at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
China will improve access to its services and manufacturing sectors while further lowering import tariffs, including those on cancer-related drugs, Li also said at his once-a-year press conference. He did not give more specifics.
“China’s economy has been so integrated with the world’s, that closing China’s door would mean blocking our way for development,” Li said.
“China’s aim is to ensure that both domestic and foreign firms, and companies under all kinds of ownership structure, will be able to compete on fair terms in China’s large market.”
When President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser Liu visited Washington recently, the Trump administration pressed him to find ways to reduce China’s US$375 billion trade surplus with the United States.
“We are unwilling to see a big trade deficit, not only with the US,,” Li said. “We hope trade will be balanced.” — Reuters