Chinese Premier Li Keqiang rejects claims Beijing is trying to buy global influence
Nation is on a path of peaceful development, leader says in two-hour speech to close National People’s Congress
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday rejected suggestions that China was leveraging its economic strength to gain political influence on the world stage.
In answer to a question posed at a press conference at the end of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, Li said that such an interpretation would be a “misreading or misunderstanding”, and that China was on the path of “peaceful development”.
The United States, Germany, India and Australia have all raised concerns about China’s growing influence, which has expanded significantly through its trade and infrastructure development plan known as the “Belt and Road Initiative”.
Li, however, defended the US$900 billion scheme – a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping – and pointed to the transparency of the investments made through it.
“The assistance that we have provided for underdeveloped countries is within our reach and without any political conditions. It cannot be deemed as political infiltration,” the premier said in a largely scripted two-hour briefing.
