Politics

Xi warns of ‘turbulent changes,’ stresses on domestic market

Beijing, Aug 25 (efe-epa).- China’s president warned that the country will face a period of “turbulent changes” marked by increased risks overseas and said he will focus on policies aimed at domestic consumption and market to drive economic growth.

On Monday, Xi Jinping chaired a symposium on economic and social work, which will lay the groundwork for the five-year economic plan that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will unveil next year.

At the event he said that China must enhance “awareness of opportunities and risks” amid a world that is “undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, which are being accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic” state-run agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

The Chinese leader stressed the importance of establishing a “new development pattern, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay and allows the domestic and foreign markets to boost each other.”

He also spoke about the importance of “creating new growth momentum through scientific and technological innovation, vigorously enhancing the capability to conduct innovation independently, and achieving breakthroughs in key and core technologies as soon as possible,” according to Xinhua.

Xi added that “China will see its status continue to rise in the world economy with closer ties” and “will provide more extensive market opportunities for other countries,” something the United States and European Union have been urging it do.

Tensions between the US and China have escalated this year due to the technology and trade wars between them and, more recently, owing to the exchange of accusations about the origin of the current coronavirus pandemic as well as the new security law for Hong Kong.

However, Washington and Beijing agreed on Tuesday to move ahead with the implementation of the partial trade agreement that both countries reached earlier this year and pledged to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination.

For its part, the EU believes that China has not made the progress expected since their last summit in 2019 to restrict barriers to market access, something that greatly impact Europe as the Asian country’s largest foreign investor and trading partner.

At the end of July, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He announced that China and the EU will “accelerate” negotiations to conclude a bilateral investment agreement by the end of the year. EFE-EPA

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