The Japan Times on April 12, 2018 claimed Xi Jinping "has emerged as one of the protectors of the global trade order." It said he had staked out a position in opposition to that of Trump and, in keeping with his assurance of being the world’s leading “free trader” in every trade speech since 2017, he promised to continue to liberalize China’s economy. Xi Jinping said his government would raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile, shipbuilding and aircraft sectors “as soon as possible” along with measures to open the financial sector. He also promised greater protections for intellectual property. The Japan Times said policymakers and markets were pleased with his promise to “refrain from seeking dominance and … refrain from ‘beggar thy neighbor’ ” policies. He urged an ongoing commitment “to openness, connectivity and mutual benefits” as well as “trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, [and to] support the multilateral trading system.” They will now wait to see whether the reforms, which had been promised before, will be implemented. China has pledged since 2013 to loosen restrictions on foreign joint ventures in its auto industry and lift the current limit of 50 percent holdings by foreign firms, which would allow majority foreign-owned companies. Vice Premier Liu He pledged at this year’s Davos meeting that China would lower auto import tariffs in an “orderly way” and open markets as well. 

 

(Comment: The Boao Asia Forum (BAF), a China-hosted event, is held each year in the southern Chinese city of Boao in Hainan province. The BAF was initiated in 1998 as a forum to discuss regional development and integration. Originally a pan-Asian initiative — its founders were former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, former Philippine President Fidel Ramos and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke — it has become a Chinese-hosted and -dominated meeting. It retains an Asian veneer, however: The new chairman of the BAF is former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who replaced former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The BAF aims to become the Asian alternative to the Davos meeting. China also launched the Xiangshan Forum to compete with the SLD and it is slowly gaining prominence and status.)