Xi Jinping sends message to US and West that ‘China is committed to opening up’ at Belt and Road Forum

While he did not mention US or trade war, president puts emphasis on key issues that have been raised by Washington during speech to world leaders

Analyst says he was addressing ‘those who did not come, and those who care more about how China’s opening up develops than the belt and road scheme’

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President Xi Jinping addresses world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 2:00am, 27 Apr 2019Updated: 1:59pm, 27 Apr 2019

When Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum on Friday, his focus was not just the trade and infrastructure scheme but a list of issues that have been raised by Washington.

During the speech, Xi promised the yuan would not be devalued, he pledged greater market access, improved protection of intellectual property and better implementation of China’s opening-up policies.

It was a message analysts say was aimed at the United States – though he did not directly mention the country or the protracted trade war between China and the US. And among all the heads of state, chiefs of global organisations, officials and entrepreneurs at the forum in Beijing, there were only low-level officials attending from Washington.

The emphasis on those key issues, which Xi spent more than one-third of his 30-minute speech discussing, underscores China’s concerns about its growing rivalry with Western powers, led by the US, which any trade agreement with Washington is unlikely to end.

Researcher Chen Fengying, former head of the World Economy Institute at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Xi was addressing people who were not in the room.