Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday that Beijing will stand firm against decoupling and trade fragmentation, while promising new efforts to reconnect the nation’s recovering economy with the world. Li’s comments at the Boao Forum for Asia, dubbed Asia’s Davos, highlight that the world’s second-largest economy wants to optimise its domestic business environment, continue opening-up and play a stabilising role in global trade, which is mired by geopolitical tensions and financial turbulence. “We’ll join hands to build a more dynamic growth centre and inject more certainty into the global economic recovery,” Li told hundreds of attendees, including visiting Singaporean and Malaysian leaders, ex-officials and business leaders. “We oppose trade protectionism and supply chain decoupling, and want to ensure smooth global industrial and supply chains.” We oppose the misuse of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction Li Qiang In his first public speech since being appointed premier earlier this month, he slammed “group confrontation” and a “new cold war”, a day after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen made a sensitive stopover in the United States. “We oppose the misuse of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction,” he said, referring to US sanctions on China. The annual conference on the tropical island of Hainan is one of China’s most prominent platforms to communicate economic and diplomatic policies with external stakeholders – a task more pressing than ever amid waning foreign business confidence . “No matter how the world changes, we will always adhere to reform and opening up and be driven by innovation,” Li said. “It will not only inject new impetus and vitality into global economic development, but allow countries to share the opportunities of China’s development.” Li Qiang is China’s new premier, but how much power will he wield? Since Li became premier, which is chiefly responsible for the Chinese economy, the long-time aide of President Xi Jinping has been courting foreign investment , including meeting with executives attending the China Development Forum in Beijing several days ago. At the Boao Forum, he said China was looking for extensive cooperation with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the digital and green economies, as well as more free-trade agreement negotiations. He also pledged to widen market access and create a favourable environment for state-owned, private and foreign investors. China has seen a large rebound in consumption, tourism, catering and hospitality since removing Covid restrictions in December last year. Retail sales in January-February grew 3.5 per cent from the same period last year, an improvement from a fall of 0.2 per cent for all of 2022. China’s economic growth momentum is strong Li Qiang However, other economic indicators have deteriorated, pointing to challenges ahead. The nation’s fiscal revenue dropped by 1.2 per cent in the first two months of the year, land sales revenue – a key source of income for cash-strapped local governments – fell by 29 per cent, while industrial profits plunged by 22.9 per cent. Li also tried to assure the rest of the world that the Chinese economy was recovering and his cabinet was addressing systemic risks – “especially to ensure a steady financial market” – after trouble at Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse sent shock waves through global financial markets. “China’s economic growth momentum is strong,” he said. “March has been even better than the first two months. Notably, market expectations have improved markedly as indicators like consumption and investment have become better, while job market and consumer prices remained stable.” Can China and Asean reap the rewards of more agriculture collaboration? Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has estimated China will contribute one-third of global economic growth this year. Beijing is expected to release first-quarter economic data in mid-April, with a first glimpse of March activities set to be shown in the release of the official purchasing managers’ index on Friday. In a meeting with Georgieva a day earlier, Li expressed concern about unpredictability and challenges facing the global economy, calling for international policy coordination and cooperation. “[We] must adhere to multilateralism, clearly oppose unilateralism and protectionism … and maintain the safe and steady flow of the global industrial chain and supply chain,” he said at the Boao Forum. We are confident and we have the capability to have an overall improvement and accomplish the full-year growth target Li Qiang The government was confident China’s economy would reach the full-year growth target of “around 5 per cent” . China is racing to advance its technology capabilities, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new communications, to fuel economic growth, according to Wang Jiangping, deputy minister of industry and information technology. “The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of 6G and we set up a 6G promotion group in 2018 to gather talent from industry, academia and research to drive the vision for key technology,” Wang said at a panel discussion at the Boao Forum on Wednesday. China expects international collaboration to develop the sixth generation mobile system, too, and is supporting companies to develop AI tech to ensure mutual benefits, Wang said. “We want to demonstrate and lead China’s manufacturing industry towards a broad stage of intelligence through benchmarking companies,” Wang said.