The emphasis on those key issues, which Xi spent more than one-third of his 30-minute speech discussing, underscores China’s concerns about its growing rivalry with Western powers, led by the US, which any trade agreement with Washington is unlikely to end.

Researcher Chen Fengying, former head of the World Economy Institute at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said Xi was addressing people who were not in the room.

“To a large extent, Xi’s message was aimed at those who did not come, and those who care more about how China’s opening up develops than the belt and road scheme,” Chen said.

“The key message to the US and other Western countries is that China is committed to opening up,” she said, adding that it was better for Xi to make the pledges while hosting a big diplomatic event than when a trade deal is signed with the US, because it would make Beijing appear weak.

Xi could travel to US to sign trade deal as early as June, source says

The speech came hours after US President Donald Trump said Xi would soon visit the White House, setting the stage for a possible trade agreement to be signed after lengthy negotiations.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are due to travel to Beijing next week for more trade talks ahead of the expected meeting between Trump and Xi.

“The subjects of next week’s discussions will cover trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases and enforcement,” the White House said on Thursday.

China would also expand market access to foreign investors by reducing its negative investment list restricting who can invest, opening the service, manufacturing and agriculture sectors wider, and allowing foreign players to take controlling stakes in more areas, Xi said.

He said the country would also boost international cooperation on intellectual property protection, prohibit forced technology transfers and severely crack down on intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements.

Among the other promises, Xi said China would import more goods and services, reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers and put more emphasis on implementing its opening-up policies – all of which are concerns that have been raised by US negotiators during trade talks with Beijing.

In addition, the Chinese president called for a sound investment environment around the world and equal treatment for Chinese entrepreneurs, students and researchers, after Chinese investors have come under tighter scrutiny in the US and some European countries, and some academics have had their visas revoked in America.

Louis Kuijs, head of Asia research for Oxford Economics in Hong Kong, said Xi’s promises were as much aimed at the rest of the world as the United States.

“Since the trade conflict with the US broke out, China’s message to the rest of the world has been that, regardless of those tensions with the US, China remains very keen to uphold the international multilateral trading system and is continuing with the reform and opening up of its economy to the rest of the world,” Kuijs said.

“It is true that it has recently focused, in actual policymaking and communication, on reforms that the US feels strongly about, such as on IPR protection and market access. But other countries – European ones, notably – also feel very strongly about these reforms,” he said.

In Europe, there is growing wariness and distrust towards China, with the European Commission last month labelling the country as a “systemic rival” and “economic competitor” in a policy paper.

Wang Heng, co-director of the Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the belt and road scheme was likely to reshape the international economic order and would affect US hegemony.

“The belt and road and US-China relationship are of great significance for China’s economic prosperity and its role in global governance,” Wang said.

“[Ending the] trade war would help China to ensure its continuing economic development, including attracting foreign investment and exporting trade and investment. All of these will also help to promote the belt and road scheme,” he said.

“So China is taking a holistic approach aimed at both reducing concerns over the belt and road scheme and [trying to end] the trade war.”

Additional reporting by Frank Tang