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Two Sessions 2024
ChinaDiplomacy

‘The next China is still China’: top diplomat pushes back against negative foreign sentiment

  • Foreign minister offers assurances to international audience that country will continue ‘opening its door wider’
  • China’s economic prospects are ‘booming’, Wang Yi says, refuting Joe Biden’s ‘ticking time bomb’ remarks

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The Chinese foreign minister took on negative foreign sentiment about China’s economy during a press conference on the sidelines of the “two sessions” in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
Orange Wang

China’s leadership has doubled down on efforts to cast the economy in a positive light and reassure the international community that Beijing is committed to further opening to the world.

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During the annual parliamentary gathering, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday joined the chorus of painting a rosy picture of China’s economic outlook, insisting the nation had maintained “strong” growth momentum.

The foreign minister, who is a member of the country’s primary decision-making body, the Politburo, also pushed back on sceptical rhetoric about the world’s No 2 economy, warning that such views would end up “harming oneself” and result in “missed opportunities” during a sideline event of the “two sessions”.

The remarks came as Beijing tries to revive confidence at home and abroad about the Chinese economy amid diminished expectations among international business leaders and the nation’s private entrepreneurs, which were seen as likely to aggravate the economic challenges and geopolitical risks facing China.

“China remains strong as an engine for growth. The next China is still China,” Wang said during his press conference.

“Spreading pessimistic views on China will end up harming oneself and misjudging China will result in missed opportunities,” he said, adding that “China prospers through interaction with the world and the world is better off when China does well”.

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