All the fun of the trade fair? Not really. In fact, President Xi Jinping’s much-anticipated keynote speech at the China International Import Expo on Monday was decidedly flat.
Planned policies were rehashed and served up as new to a cosmopolitan audience for this initial annual bash in Shanghai, which is known as the CIIE, a rather glitzy trade fair.
Xi trotted out the usual well-rehearsed speech, including buzzwords such as “reform,” “openness” and “governance.”
Phrases which included “free trade,” “inclusion,” “win-win” and “mutual benefits” also echoed around the National Convention and Exhibition Center.
“The economic and social well-being of countries in the world is increasingly interconnected,” Xi said. “The reform of the global governance system and the international order is picking up speed.
“On the other hand, the world economy is going through a profound adjustment, and protectionism and unilateralism are resurging. Economic globalization faces headwinds, and multilateralism and the system of free trade are under threat,” he added.
Picking through the bones of his speech, there was little fresh meat on offer.
Lower tariffs
The general secretary of the Communist Party did promise to increase imports and further lower tariffs after vowing to open up education, telecommunications and cultural sectors.
Clamping down on intellectual property theft was also mentioned … again.
“It seems like there were good statements and good headlines, but what we want are concrete actions and a concrete timetable of reform,” Carlo Diego D’Andrea, the chairman for the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said. “We can’t let the CEOs of European companies in China set up their businesses on a foundation of hope that reform will come.”
Excessive bureaucracy, “promise fatigue,” and coercion to hand over intellectual property rights are just three areas of contention for overseas companies.
Last week, the United States and EU business lobbies in China, along with the French and German ambassadors to Beijing, called on Xi’s government to use the trade fair to announce crucial changes aligned to a rigid timetable.
What actually happened was that the president’s comments simply mirrored an earlier speech made at the Boao Forum on the tropical island of Hainan in southern China more than seven months ago.
Back then, he called for greater “openness,” a pledge to relax import controls, as well as moves to reduce red tape for foreign firms.
Fast forward from April and Xi is facing a different permutation of problems.
Beijing is becoming increasingly anxious about a cooling economy buffeted by a drop in consumer spending and a dip in factory activity. Third-quarter GDP growth has also been hit, falling to levels not seen since the 2009 Great Recession.
At the same time, the economy is going through a transformation from low-cost production to high-tech manufacturing, coupled with a growing service industry and a more sophisticated consumer sector.
But realigning the economy and being embroiled in a trade war with the US has taken its toll.
“Markets seemed to like the headline ‘to cut import tariffs,’ but this plan was already announced in September and can only be milked so many times,” Sue Trinh, the head of Asia FX Strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg.
During the past six months, international relations with the West have deteriorated as quickly as the economy.
Tariffs worth more than US$250 billion have already been slapped on Chinese imports to the US by the White House.
Intellectual property
President Donald Trump has also threatened to impose duties on the remaining goods and products worth another $258 billion, citing “unfair practices” and “intellectual property violations.”
In response to a weakening economy and a markets meltdown, Beijing has wheeled out a stimulus-inspired package after nearly $3 trillion were wiped off the Shanghai Composite Index and $1.1 trillion off Shenzhen in the past nine months.
This, in turn, has hit the spending power of more than 150 million middle-class investors, who are vital to the retail industry.
So, when financial and economic bruising started to appear in China from the trade brawl, it was hardly surprising that Xi would throw a verbal uppercut at Trump.
“All countries should strive to improve their business environment and solve their own problems,” Xi said at the CIIE. “They shouldn’t always whitewash themselves and blame others or act like a flashlight that only exposes others but not themselves.
“Today, with the deepening of economic globalization, ‘law of the jungle’ and ‘winner-takes-all’ are a dead end,” he added.
Still, later this month, Xi hopes to meet Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires to help thaw out what has become a new economic Cold War. Hopefully, there will be more on offer than just hot air.
What is remarkable to me is how President Xi has failed to recognize his own failures in dealing with President Donald John Trump on TRADE. What he should have said is GOOGLE and FACEBOOK are welcome and within the week we willl be meeting the CEO’S of both companies to iron out a deal that is good for everybody. But NO———Xi gives a dopey speech that is missing the point——-until China plays fair (thanks to weak American Presidents before Trump China was allowed to fo whatever there greedy hearts desired) and opens up the Middle Kingdom too one and all ———-there fortunes will take a huge hit and the newly annointed King Xi reputation will suffer considerably in the world stage!!
What is remarkable to me is how President Xi has failed to recognize his own failures in dealing with President Donald John Trump on TRADE. What he should have said is GOOGLE and FACEBOOK are welcome and within the week we willl be meeting the CEO’S of both companies to iron out a deal that is good for everybody. But NO———Xi gives a dopey speech that is missing the point——-until China plays fair (thanks to weak American Presidents before Trump China was allowed to fo whatever there greedy hearts desired) and opens up the Middle Kingdom too one and all ———-there fortunes will take a huge hit and the newly annointed King Xi reputation will suffer considerably in the world stage!!
But, more importantly, Xi will lose "face" in his own country, with his critics waiting to pounce on him using opaque language!
China took the piss after being allowed entry into the WTO by not playing by the rules, and were allowed to get away with theft of I.P. and forcing foreign companies to take on a Chinese partner to do business in China, and then forcing them to hand over proprietry technology, which they then passed to another Chinese company to produce products more cheaply. Trump is either an idiot savant or very smart in playing poker with China. He’s confounding economists and all his critics. Who knows where all these leads to?
But, more importantly, Xi will lose "face" in his own country, with his critics waiting to pounce on him using opaque language!
China took the piss after being allowed entry into the WTO by not playing by the rules, and were allowed to get away with theft of I.P. and forcing foreign companies to take on a Chinese partner to do business in China, and then forcing them to hand over proprietry technology, which they then passed to another Chinese company to produce products more cheaply. Trump is either an idiot savant or very smart in playing poker with China. He’s confounding economists and all his critics. Who knows where all these leads to?
Sonny Azhak and you are just an ignorant
Sonny Azhak and you are just an ignorant
I think the author has answered his own question(s). China is feeling pretty good about this trade war stuff and therefore is not going to offer up much at this time. Besides, everyone is waiting for the results of the mid-terms.
We need to remember that when this trade war issue started last spring, most analysts felt that China would win. see: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/13/why-china-will-win-the-trade-war/
and if that isn’t enough, the US’s only real way to generate some new income long term is to sell LNG, especially to China. Not going to happen, as China is holding a better hand than the US.
See: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/09/20/u-s-must-not-lose-chinas-liquefied-natural-gas-market/#69f5284311de
America’s power and hegemony will continue to weaken and everyone is seeing it.
I think the author has answered his own question(s). China is feeling pretty good about this trade war stuff and therefore is not going to offer up much at this time. Besides, everyone is waiting for the results of the mid-terms.
We need to remember that when this trade war issue started last spring, most analysts felt that China would win. see: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/13/why-china-will-win-the-trade-war/
and if that isn’t enough, the US’s only real way to generate some new income long term is to sell LNG, especially to China. Not going to happen, as China is holding a better hand than the US.
See: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/09/20/u-s-must-not-lose-chinas-liquefied-natural-gas-market/#69f5284311de
America’s power and hegemony will continue to weaken and everyone is seeing it.
Clueless western dummies like Kevin Connolly, Sonny, and Gordon Watts do not get it. Xi has no need to change course to suit their and the empire’s wishes. The Chinese have made it clear that they will persist for the long term, and they are prepared to administer as well as take the pain, whereas dumb white mercans will suffer, whine and bully, to no avail. We’ll see who breaks first. Trump made noises about resolving the trade dispute to try to salvage the midterms – we’ll see if it worked. But he will not betray his base. China will not be bullied into making any concessions, and is merely biding its time here. There’s no need for them to cater to Connolly’s, Sonny’s or Watt’s wishful thinking.
Clueless western dummies like Kevin Connolly, Sonny, and Gordon Watts do not get it. Xi has no need to change course to suit their and the empire’s wishes. The Chinese have made it clear that they will persist for the long term, and they are prepared to administer as well as take the pain, whereas dumb white mercans will suffer, whine and bully, to no avail. We’ll see who breaks first. Trump made noises about resolving the trade dispute to try to salvage the midterms – we’ll see if it worked. But he will not betray his base. China will not be bullied into making any concessions, and is merely biding its time here. There’s no need for them to cater to Connolly’s, Sonny’s or Watt’s wishful thinking.
Give time frame to the minute is called by the west an ugly name of planned economy.
Give time frame to the minute is called by the west an ugly name of planned economy.
China must keep the western predators and vultures out, especially in the financial sectors.
The 1998 financial crisis in SE Asia was caused by US financial predators shorting the Thai Baht creating a ripple effect on the Malaysian currency and other SEAsian currencies almost destroying their economies. The US wizards of spin and buzzwords call it " creative destruction " and Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister was so brainwashed that he accepted the destruction of Malaysia’s economy as " creative."
Rubbing salt into the wound, a senior US financial executive visited a Malaysian Development Bank and gave the impression that he was here to give sound advice on how to get out of the financial rout. Instead he asked for information on good Malaysian economies that have gone busted and are on the market for sale. He was kicked out of the building.
Goldman Sachs, the biggest US investment bank is complicit in mega corruption and helping to loot Malaysia’s sovereign fund 1MDB.
Chinese government must keep all the US financial vultures out of China, otherwise, the financial sector will be corrupted beyond redemption.
" good Malaysian economies that have gone busted and are on the market for sale." should read " good Malaysian companies….."
" good Malaysian economies that have gone busted and are on the market for sale." should read " good Malaysian companies….."
Simon Stevanovic You could say the same about the massive corruption on Wall Street and DC. Pot calling kettle black.
Simon Stevanovic You could say the same about the massive corruption on Wall Street and DC. Pot calling kettle black.
Well said comrade, 0.5 RMB and 3 social credit points for you. But in the meantime while you live amoung the gweilo we’ll send you some platform shoes.
Well said comrade, 0.5 RMB and 3 social credit points for you. But in the meantime while you live amoung the gweilo we’ll send you some platform shoes.
Hey, dumbass, you are delusional old fool, puffed up on Chinese nartionalism, while living in the USA! I notice you did NOT counter what I said and, instead, resorted to attacking so-called Westerners.
Hey, dumbass, you are delusional old fool, puffed up on Chinese nartionalism, while living in the USA! I notice you did NOT counter what I said and, instead, resorted to attacking so-called Westerners.