China to open markets wider

President Xi Jinping on Monday pledged to widen access to China's economy, while delivering a veiled rebuke to Trumpism, as he kicked off an import expo amid growing foreign accusations that he was backtracking on grand promises to play fair on trade.

Xi said China would "step up" efforts to stimulate imports, lower tariffs, ease customs clearance procedures, and implement harsh punishments for intellectual property infringements, though he was light on specifics.

"It is our sincere commitment to open the Chinese market," Xi said in an address opening the event in Shanghai.

China would "foster a world-class business environment" and its doors will open "ever wider", he said.

But Xi also pushed back at foreign pressure in comments clearly aimed at Donald Trump and the trade war he launched between the world's two largest economies.

Nations "should not just point fingers at others to gloss over their own problems", Xi said, decrying "protectionism", "isolationism" and "the law of the jungle".

"They should not hold a flashlight in hand, doing nothing but highlighting the weaknesses of others and not their own."

Beijing has touted the first annual China International Import Expo as a sign of its willingness to open its markets despite mounting criticism to the contrary and the worsening trade war with Washington, which has seen both sides impose punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.

Organisers say more than 3,000 foreign companies from 130 countries including the United States and Europe are present, including General Motors, Ford, Microsoft, Samsung, Walmart and Tesla.

It remained to be seen whether Xi's latest promises would satisfy increasingly impatient trading partners. In a speech at Davos nearly two years ago, he presented China as a beacon of globalization, in a counterpoint to Trump.