China President Xi Jinping says ‘only when China is good, can the world get better’ amid US trade war
- Vice-Premier Han Zheng read out a letter from China President Xi Jinping at the inaugural Qingdao Multinationals Summit on Saturday
- Event opened two weeks after South Korean giant Samsung closed its last factory in mainland China with the loss of thousands of jobs
Just a day after China reported its slowest quarterly economic growth on record, President Xi Jinping repeated his promise to keep opening up the nation’s markets to companies and investors from around the world.
“The door of China’s opening up will only open wider and wider, the business environment will only get better and better, and the opportunities for global multinational companies will only be more and more,” he said in a congratulatory letter read out by Vice-Premier Han Zheng at the inaugural Qingdao Multinational Summit on Saturday.
The two-day event in the eastern Chinese city, which ends on Sunday, was organised by China’s Ministry of Commerce and the provincial government of Shandong to give multinational companies “the opportunity to articulate their business values and vision” and “promote cooperation with host countries”.
In his letter, Xi praised multinational companies for the role they had played in China’s opening up and reform over the past four decades, describing them as “important participants, witnesses and beneficiaries”.
Only when the world is good, China is good. Only when China is good, can the world get better
China was willing to continue opening up to benefit not only itself but the world as a whole, he said.