Chinese vice president injects note of confidence in Davos

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao was giving a special address injecting confidence into global leaders of politics and businesses at the annual meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. 

Chinese vice president Li Yuanchao injected a note of confidence into the mood of global leaders in politics and businesses meeting in Davos, saying his country will maintain medium- and high-speed growth in coming five years to further contribute to the global economy after achieving 6.9 percent GDP growth in 2015. He gave a special address on the second day of annual meeting of World Economic Forum and pledged that China will use its G20 presidency to mobilize the global economic players to tap into driving growth forces of the economy in the medium and long-term.

“China has achieved stable economic growth last year and is still the leading contributor to the global economy, which has not been in good shape after eight years of financial crisis,” Li said. Li gave detailed figures about China’s job creation, steady enthusiasm in opening businesses, rapid growth of high-tech companies, trade, overseas investment, rising outbound numbers of tourists and purchasing power, in a bid to convince the audiences that China is still in good shape economically. When chairing the special address, World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab responded that Li’s remarks and figures have convinced him that China should be trusted as a steady contributor of global economy, in spite of a series of shocks in stock markets since the middle of last year.

Li said last year, the growth part of China’s economy has reached 500 billion dollars on the basis of an existing sizable economy of more than 10 trillion dollars.

“Even if we maintain medium-speed growth, China is still a leading contributor of global growth,” said Li.
Li said China is in a period of transformation as it changes the rate of growth and he said the theme of the forum, mastering the fourth industrial revolution, has well-matched China’s future economic dynamics, which requires further investment in high-tech areas and a move up to the upper chain of global economy.

“We have called on the development of a innovative, green, balanced, inclusive and open approach,” Li said. He told delegates China will be taking more steps to engage with the rest of the world and build up an open economy.

During China’s presidency of G20, Li said the global economic players should tap into the potential to boost economic growth in long run after eight years of economic crisis, when the G20 members had focused on economic policy coordination. “We need to find new sources to boost global growth,” said Li. He urged countries to abandon protectionism in order to increase global trade flow, which has lagged behind the average speed of economic growth. Li also said China’s G20 presidency will help improve global economic governance in a bid to make it fairer and more inclusive. “We are paying special attention to the appeal of the most less-developing countries and African countries in that regard,” said Li.