Shannon Brandao
Shannon's excerpt from the article: "VOA News [excerpt]: #China brought a large delegation to this year's World Economic Forum in #Davos to try to convince the world that the globe's second-largest #economy is still open for #business and a reliable place to #invest. But analysts say Premier Li Qiang’s speech on Tuesday was short on specifics that might have reassured #investors.
Li led a delegation of 140 people to this week’s five-day meeting of global political and business #leaders. China brought as many as 10 ministerial-level officials related to China's economic affairs, according to the U.S. news website Politico. Li is the highest-ranking Chinese leader to attend the annual meeting since 2017, reflecting the importance Beijing attaches to it.
Anna Ashton, director of China corporate affairs and U.S.-China at Eurasia Group, a New York-based global political risk consulting firm, told VOA in an email that China's attention to the meeting 'underscores 1) Beijing's continued interest in shaping global economic relations and development efforts, and 2) the importance Beijing places on reviving its international trade and investment relationships.'
In his speech, Li assured investors and politicians that China's economy has 'huge potential' and remains an 'important engine' of global growth despite the serious economic headwinds the country has seen over the past year.
...In the third quarter of last year, China recorded its first quarterly foreign direct investment deficit of $11.8 billion, the first time that has happened since records began in 1998. That means divestments and business downsizing were $11.8 billion greater than new investment, according to Bloomberg.
...Despite the challenges, Li on Tuesday said that the economy’s long-term positive trend would not change, and that China would continue to contribute to world economic development. He also promised China would stay committed to its fundamental policy of opening its door wider to the world.
Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA that Li's speech was generally positive and showed that he hoped to eliminate outsiders' negative views of China's economy.
But he added that Li’s speech did not list any specific measures Beijing would take that would attract Western companies, doing little to alleviate their concerns about where China’s economy is headed.
'I think the business community, especially firms that have big operations in China, would have the mood of "show me," because they can recite all sorts of regulations and restrictions that hamper their ability to do business, take their intellectual property, and make it really not such a friendly environment,' he said.
'So this speech did not have anything that I would call "concrete measures" that would really appeal to the business community. So they will be more skeptical.'"
#news