Belt and road delegates welcome Xi Jinping’s pledges, but now they want action to back them up
- Chinese president promised to open up economy and work with other countries, but one diplomat said these were ‘largely the same’ as previous pledges
Xi Jinping’s latest promises of partnership and fair treatment for foreign companies received a cautious welcome from diplomats and delegates at the Belt and Road Forum on Friday, but they also called for concrete action to back them up.
The Chinese president promised in his speech that China will further open up, lower tariffs, increase imports, strengthen intellectual property protection and strictly forbid forced technology transfers.
He also said China would not seek a trade surplus and promised that foreign partners would be invited to help develop the flagship trade and infrastructure plan in an environmentally sustainable manner.
A Belarus diplomat, who declined to be named, said the speech was “largely the same” as previous speeches, including his pledges to further open the Chinese economy.
But the diplomat said it was positive to hear that China did not seek a trade surpluses with other countries. Belarus logged a US$2.5 billion trade deficit with China last year.