Xi seeks to open up China market
Foreign businesses want to see the ‘rhetoric’ matched by actions
President Xi Jinping 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 on Monday.
China would “foster a worldclass 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 goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Organisers say more than 3,000 foreign companies from 130 countries including the US and Europe are present, including General Motors, Ford, Microsoft, Samsung, Walmart and Tesla.
Meanwhile, critics say Xi is yet to put his money where his mouth is and they are tired of empty promises.
Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said Xi’s latest comments came “with few specific solutions” and that the chamber wants to see the “rhetoric” matched by actions.
“Now that it is the world’s second-largest economy, China can afford to open its doors all the way,” Jarrett said.
Foreign businesses complain about a range of policies that benefit local firms, requirements that foreign companies form joint ventures with Chinese partners, forced technology transfers, rampant intellectual property violations and restrictive red tape.
Foreign business surveys indicate the playing field is worsening as Xi champions a strongChina message not unlike Trump’s “America First” push.
The event has drawn several foreign heads of government including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Pakistani premier Imran Khan, though most are from small African or Asian countries dependent on China trade.
China ranks 59th out of 62 countries on openness to foreign direct investment, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ranking.