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China sought to lure global chief executives including Apple’s Tim Cook, UBS’s Sergio Ermotti and HSBC’s Georges Elhadary to Beijing on Sunday, citing the country’s security and credibility in contrast to the war-torn US with Iran.
The world’s second-largest economy offers an unmatched supply chain and a predictable commercial environment, Premier Li Qiang told more than 70 chief executives gathered at the Diaoyutai State guesthouse for the government’s annual Davos-style forum.
The country is committed to becoming a “cornerstone of certainty” and a “port of stability” in the face of rising trade protectionism and upheaval in the rules-based international order, Li said.
“China will firmly promote high-level opening-up to the outside, import more high-quality foreign goods, and work with all parties to promote the optimized and balanced development of trade, jointly expanding global economic and trade,” he told the audience.
The conference, the China Development Forum, is held every year in late March after the country’s rubber-stamp parliament meets. It serves as a medium for leadership to express their views to global CEOs.
This year, Beijing is selling its latest five-year economic plan, 2030, as an opportunity for foreign investment.
“Li did not mention the United States by name… but the message is clear that China is now more secure, more reliable and stable and more focused on economic development rather than conflict,” said George Chen, partner at Asia Group Consultancy, who was present at the meeting.
The conference comes amid growing concern over China’s huge trade surplus, which reached a record $1.2 trillion last year. There are concerns in Europe that low-cost Chinese imports are destroying jobs.
The five-year plan roughly doubles down on China’s manufacturing-oriented high-tech industrial policy, raising fears of an even bigger blow to Western factories.
People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng defended the country’s exports in a speech on Sunday about global economic “rebalancing.”
Pan rejected claims that China’s competitiveness was the result of government subsidies, and attributed this to economic reforms, the size of its domestic market, and the strength of its supply chains and research.
Without naming the US, he described some countries’ persistent trade deficits as the result of “an international monetary system dominated by a single sovereign currency”.
Other business leaders on this year’s invite list include Siemens’ Roland Busch, Volkswagen’s Oliver Blume, SK Hynix’s Kwak Noh-jung, Nestlé’s Philippe Navratil, Mercedes-Benz’s Ola Källenius, KKR’s Joseph Bay, Cargill’s Brian Sykes, Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters and Boston Consulting Group’s Christoph Schweizer.
U.S. executives were well represented this year, making up 45 percent of those invited, according to analysis by Han Shen Lin of Asia Group. Europeans accounted for 36 percent and the remainder were from Asia, Australia and elsewhere.
Financial services dominated, accounting for about 22 percent of invitees, while only 4 percent were from the energy sector.
Lee was followed by Apple Chief Executive Cook who spoke on opportunities in education and other sectors in China.
Unlike the previous two forums, President Xi Jinping is not expected to meet top officials this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Asia Group’s Chen said Lee’s speech was the most confident he had seen in recent years, although the prime minister avoided directly criticizing US President Donald Trump.
Trump, who recently postponed an April 1 meeting with Xi in Beijing, is still widely expected to plan a visit this year.
On Saturday evening, Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng, the economic czar who is running trade talks with the United States, held a dinner with a group of mostly European officials to lay out the country’s five-year plan.
The executives mostly praised China and talked about their companies, but there was also some discussion of Chinese overcapacity and the risks to European industry, said one of the dinner attendees.
