China’s academics join calls for reform and opening up as US trade war pressure looks set to continue
- Prescriptions for change are being publicly suggested by Chinese experts as trade conflicts with the West appear set to continue
- Pushing ahead with reform considered crucial as US tariff war pushes investors to relocate supply chains away from China
When Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, it was no surprise that he refreshed his country’s vows to deepen its reforms and widen the opening up process.
While Xi has talked a good game on reforms to domestic and international audiences for years, foreign investors have remained unimpressed. The US launched the trade war with China last year partly in response to years of anger and frustration at the slow pace of reform.
In his keynote speech on Friday, Xi declared China would take “major steps” to further liberalise its economy and reduce market restrictions for foreign investors, who have long complained of unequal treatment compared to China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as well as limited market access and “forced” technology transfers.
Xi outlined a number of measures apparently designed to soothe these complaints: the agricultural, mining and service sectors will be further opened to foreign investors; six new free trade zones will be set up; import tariffs will be slashed; a new foreign investment law – taking effect from next January – will improve intellectual property protection; and a complaints mechanism will be introduced to better protect the interests and rights of foreign investors.
Although Xi and his US counterpart Donald Trump announced a truce to resume trade negotiations after their closely watched meeting on Saturday, the rivalry between the two superpowers is far from over, according to analysts. Observers say that friction and collisions are set to intensify, with Washington now defining Beijing as a strategic competitor that is reshaping global governance with a different set of standards, beliefs and values.
These expected trade conflicts, and the potential hardship caused to China through denial of access to technology by the US and its allies, have been eliciting all sorts of reform-related impulses among Chinese elites, with some academics recently going public with their prescriptions for China’s survival in an era of open foreign hostility.
