CHINA is committed to opening up the world’s second-largest economy and delivering reforms that can help stimulate growth, Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday (Mar 30), adding that geopolitical tension would only hold back development worldwide.

Li’s comments were made at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, an international business summit in the island province of Hainan. They are his latest calls for Beijing to bolster its economic recovery in the face of strained relations with the United States and its allies over everything from Russia’s war in Ukraine to technology exports and Taiwan.

Li spoke on a panel alongside the prime ministers of Malaysia, Singapore and Spain, all of which have close trade and diplomatic ties with Beijing.

“No matter what changes take place in the world, we will always adhere to reform and opening up,” said Li, who took office this month.

“We will introduce a series of new measures in expanding market access and optimising the business environment… Peace is a prerequisite for development,” he added.

Covid-19 curbs battered China’s economy for three years before being dropped in December 2022. Li said there were signs that a recovery is starting to take hold.

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China has set itself a modest target for gross domestic product growth of about 5 per cent this year, after significantly missing its target for 2022. That is lower than what the International Monetary Fund and some private forecasters think it can achieve.

“Judging from the situation in March, it’s better than in January and February. In particular, major economic indicators such as consumption and investment continue to improve, while employment and prices are generally stable,” Li said.

In veiled comments aimed at the US, which is working with its allies to stymie China’s access to advanced technologies such as microchips, Li said Beijing opposed trade protectionism and decoupling.

Relations between the two superpowers have been tense for years. They worsened last month after the US shot down a high-altitude balloon off its east coast with claims that it was a Chinese spying craft.

Another flashpoint in US-China rivalry has been Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that China claims as its territory. In the latest escalation, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York on Wednesday for the first of two US stopovers that Beijing has called provocative.

At Thursday’s forum, Li said that “chaos and conflicts” must not happen in Asia, and that China would act as an “anchor” for global peace. REUTERS