Li Keqiang attended and addressed the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit

On the afternoon of November 13, 2020, Prime Minister Li Keqiang delivered a video speech at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

Li Keqiang said that the sudden new corona pneumonia epidemic has posed a serious threat to people’s lives and health in all countries, and the world economy is experiencing the worst recession since World War II. As a close neighbor and important partner of China, ASEAN trade and investment have grown against trend in the context of the global economic downturn, with trade volume increasing by 5% and Chinese investment in ASEAN 76.6% year-on-year. ASEAN has become China’s largest trading partner, and economic ties between the two sides have tightened and industrial ties have tightened.

Li Keqiang briefly introduced the current economic situation in China, saying that we coordinate the promotion of epidemic prevention and control and economic development, and timely and decisively introduce effective and reasonable macroeconomic policies to respond to the impact of the epidemic. After hard work, China’s economy resumed positive growth in the first three quarters and stabilized the core market. This is not easy for a country with a population of 1.4 billion.

Li Keqiang pointed out that our policy of helping enterprises alleviate difficulties and stimulate the vitality of market entities is focused on small, medium and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households, in order to stabilize employment and stabilize economic fundamentals. Stabilization of employment depends on market agents. We continue to promote tax and fee reductions, deepen the “delegation of control and service” reform, improve the business environment, and stimulate the vitality of hundreds of millions of market players. New entrants to China’s daily market have returned to the level of the same period last year. It is precisely thanks to the preservation of hundreds of millions of market entities that the employment and subsistence of people are effectively guaranteed. The Chinese people are resilient, and Chinese market players have firm confidence in the future. Now it’s safe to say that China’s economy can achieve positive growth this year. Among the world’s major economies, China has taken the lead to achieve recovery growth.

Li Keqiang pointed out that we are well aware that we are still facing many difficulties and challenges, not only the economic downturn and the contraction of trade, but also the continued rise in protectionism. We will defend the concept of a community with a shared future, we will continue to promote cooperation with ASEAN countries, we will safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and we will safeguard world peace and development.

-Resolutely maintain a peaceful and stable development environment. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the founding of the United Nations. President Xi Jinping pointed out in the general debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly that the issue of peace and development has not changed and that the peoples of all countries have higher expectations for peaceful development, cooperation and beneficial results for everybody. In the past 75 years, Asia has gone from turbulence to peace, from confrontation to cooperation, and from poverty to prosperity. We are well aware of the importance of maintaining regional peace and stability. This is not only a requirement for investment and business development, but also helps shape expectations for long-term stability and improvement.

-Efforts to promote regional economic integration. China has always advocated promoting free trade under the World Trade Organization, promoting regional economic integration, and letting the “two wheels” turn together. Since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area ten years ago, the content has been continuously enriched and the standard has been gradually improved. The “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (RCEP) is expected to be signed during the East Asia Cooperation Leaders Meeting, which will send a clear and positive signal to regional economic integration and economic globalization. We are willing to strengthen the convergence of development strategies with ASEAN countries on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results and promote cooperation in joint construction of the “Belt and Road”.

-Fully promote the recovery of the regional economy. For many years, East Asia has played an important leading role in the world economy. In the current context, we still have to shoulder those responsibilities. All countries must work together and side by side to promote the recovery and development of the regional economy and move towards prosperity. This will also inject a strong boost to the recovery of the world economy. In this process, we must not only carry out advanced technology and cooperation between large enterprises, but also create new cooperation highlights in the fields of small, medium and micro enterprises.

Li Keqiang pointed out that next year will mark the beginning of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN. “Thirty years”, the year China-ASEAN relations came into being, have already been “established.” I believe that they will become more mature and develop together in the direction of mutual benefit and mutual benefit. We will continue to create new prospects for business and investment cooperation and further benefit China. And the people of ASEAN countries will also help maintain regional and global peace, stability and prosperity.