President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping told the heads of American and European companies that China will retaliate against those countries and companies that are trying to harm China.
This was reported with reference to unnamed sources by the Wall Street Journal. As noted, Xi Jinping addressed protectionism and trade restrictions at a meeting of the Global CEO Council at the Diaoyutai State Residence in Beijing. The meeting was attended by the leaders of 20 transnational corporations in the USA and the EU, in particular Goldman Sachs, Schneider Electric, Volkswagen, AstraZeneca, as well as a number of companies from Asia.
The meeting took place on June 21. The official Chinese media, in particular the Xinhua News Agency, reported it in a neutral manner, noting China’s commitment to openness and cooperation. According to WSJ sources, in his speech, Xi Jinping made clear to the heads of US and EU companies that China was not going to comply with Western moral standards in the “trade war.”
‘In the West … you turn the other cheek,’ China’s Xi Jinping told CEOs last week after Trump escalated trade measures. ‘In our culture we punch back’ https://t.co/F0MSWB1Yon
– The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 25, 2018
At a meeting with company leaders, Xi Jinping also announced that China would build partnerships with those companies and countries that want this. However, the restrictions of some countries will not affect the intention of China to develop its economy. The PRC President noted: “If one door closes, another opens.”
According to reports, the Chinese authorities have already begun to give preferences to companies from Europe and Japan. One example of this approach was the actions of China’s financial regulators on requests from large foreign financial sector companies to create joint brokerage companies in China. As noted, in May, documents for the creation of such joint ventures in China were submitted by the Japanese Nomura Holdings, the Swiss UBS Group and the American JPMorgan Chase. Applications by Nomura and UBS have already been approved; consideration of JPMorgan’s application has not yet been completed.
Among one of the long-term measures, in addition to tightening control over goods and companies from the United States, complicating their activities in China and imposing reciprocal duties, China also seeks to accelerate negotiations on the creation of a free trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region from 16 states, not including the United States .
This is the so-called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) project proposed in 2012 at the ASEAN Summit. According to WSJ sources, China has already resumed active negotiations on this project.
