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SHANGHAI – A trade fair that China is organizing to market a new image – as an importer – looks like a test of its commitment to follow through on the promised economic liberalization.
In his latest economic initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated an import exhibition in Shanghai on Monday to convince his trading partners that consumerism is taking off and that the world's second largest economy will buy more and more. of the world .
"China has a large market of more than 1.3 billion people and that is our sincere commitment to open the Chinese market," Xi told his audience composed of more than 10 million people. A dozen foreign heads of state and heads of international groups such as the World Trade Organization. and leaders of hundreds of international companies.
Xi's remarks and the fair itself are intended to demonstrate Beijing's intention to rebalance the economy at the expense of practices that have left more than 80 percent of its trading partners buy more than they sell to China. For successive US administrations, trade deficits with China have been a decisive bet, compounded by unfulfilled market access promises for US dairy farmers, financial advisors, internet companies and the US. from other companies. imported Chinese products.
Xi's opening speech, however, contained few new initiatives and largely echoed the general support for globalization that he had been expressing over the past two years, partly to contrast with Trump's economic nationalism.
Kenneth Jarrett, president of the US Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said Xi's statements on Monday and the last two years were encouraging. He said the president had identified areas of concern for US companies, such as intellectual property theft and capping property ownership in China. "Rhetoric alone will not be enough," he said.
Xi was applauded by the statement that China would import $ 30 trillion worth of goods over the next 15 years. This figure represents a 25% increase over the $ 24 trillion import target promised by Mr. Xi in a speech last year, but it would also appear that it's Just act on a promise he made since 2015 that China would buy $ 10 trillion worth of goods from other countries a five-year period.
Xi also said China would import $ 10 trillion worth of services over the next 15 years, an analyst said. This goal was easily achievable for a continuously expanding $ 12 trillion economy, which imported $ 468 billion in services last year.
By expressing his plans in general with few details, Xi reinforced the growing opinion of analysts in China and abroad that he did not foresee the kind of bold redevelopment of the company. Economy that has marked its political approach – rejecting corrupt rivals and securing potential lifetime power for itself.
The European Chamber of Commerce in China has mentioned a lack of monitoring of economic policy that it describes as a "reform deficit".
Mr. Xi has addressed an audience of more than a dozen foreign heads of state, as well as heads of international groups such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. to leaders of hundreds of international companies.
Photo:
stringer / epa-efe / rex / Shutterstock
Throughout the year, senior officials have promised a series of policy changes that would hold for the December 40th anniversary of the change in Deng Xiaoping's market-driven reforms, which have made China an economic engine. "Some measures will exceed the expectations of the international community," said Liu He, Xi's right-hand economist, last January at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Xi raised new hopes for liberalization last month when he embarked on a tour in the south of the country, similar to Deng's 1992 trip. which has encouraged private businesses and triggered a period of rapid growth. Mr. Xi took advantage of his trip to defend companies run by the government. He has since praised private companies, in a recent public letter and at a meeting with entrepreneurs in which he praised their contributions, while stressing that public enterprises remain the pillar of the economy.
China International Import Expo, the event inaugurated Monday by Xi, has been presented by the authorities and the state media as a milestone in the country's interaction with the world. It has also encouraged business groups to think that they could use their stadium to significantly lower import duties or allow more foreign firms to go it alone without Chinese partners in joint ventures.
Instead, Xi said investors should trust China, despite the occasional "high winds and storms," and China is on the right track. "The opening has become a trademark of China," he said.
In addition to the goals of importing goods and services, Xi reiterated his commitments to better protect foreign intellectual property and easing restrictions on foreign investment in agriculture, mining and manufacturing, as well as in education and medicine. He added that China would speed up the implementation of a foreign investment law, although business groups have said they want China to stop regulating them differently from local businesses.
Xi has not reported any new offensive of the collision with the Trump government, which has called on China to reduce the trade imbalance, stop stealing US technology and put an end to perceived discrimination against companies US.
The government announced that it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars and offer exhibitors the opportunity to show their products to more than 100,000 professional buyers. Prior to the first annual event, the government had issued numerous notices mentioning spending targets for Chinese companies and subsidies to support their purchases.
Although more than 150 US companies and organizations are involved, the Trump administration has shunned the fair, calling for an open economy in a news release instead of sending a delegation.
Write to James T. Areddy at [email protected]
