Premier Li Qiang says China’s economy a ‘source of certainty’ amid global risks
China will continue to be a land of opportunities and an engine of global growth and stability, even as the world faces rising geopolitical challenges and uncertainties, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) Annual Meeting in Beijing.
“China remains the country that contributes the greatest impetus to global economic growth, and the most significant source of certainty for world peace and development,” he said on Thursday.
Li’s remarks came a day after he told the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin that China’s growth would remain “at a relatively fast speed” and that the country would “do its utmost” to address challenges facing the global economy.
Despite mounting external challenges, China has shown resilience, Li said, citing its solid performance in the first two quarters of this year.
He pointed to the 5.4 per cent year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter, which he called a hard-won achievement. Beijing has set an annual GDP target of about 5 per cent this year.
“China’s economy will remain a hotbed of opportunity for the global economy in the years to come,” he added.
As China remains embroiled in an unpredictable trade war with the United States, Beijing has rolled out stimulus measures to stabilise financial markets and fuel consumption – including cuts to benchmark interest rates, reductions in banks’ reserve requirement ratios and trade-in programmes to boost household spending.