Gov’t pledges to increase opportunities for foreign companies as it seeks to boost its economy

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, right, chats with US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng pledged last week to provide more opportunities for foreign companies in China as the government tries to restore confidence in the world’s second largest economy.

Han told an audience of American business people in Beijing that the government would continue to open up more industries to foreign investment and create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment.

“China’s development achievements have been made through opening up,” he said at an American Chamber of Commerce in China banquet. “We will unwaveringly adhere to a high level of opening-up to the outside world.”

Chamber officials portrayed his appearance at the annual dinner as a positive signal that the government is serious about addressing the concerns of U.S. and other foreign companies about operating uncertainties and other challenges in the Chinese market.

The U.S. and China remain divided on a wide range of issues from trade and technology to the war in Ukraine, but they are at least talking again and seeking ways to manage their differences.

Both Premier Li Qiang and the commerce minister met this week with a visiting delegation led by Suzanne Clark, the head of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“What I think the Chinese were trying to do is to reassure us that they know there are still things on the to-do list that need to get done and to reassure us that they will get done,” said the chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, Sean Stein, who joined the meeting with Li.

Progress has been made in some areas but not in others, Stein said before the dinner, adding, “it’s been a mixed bag.”

The American ambassador in China, Nicholas Burns, told the audience that several months of high-level meetings and exchanges had given a measure of badly needed stability to the U.S.-China relationship, but that difficult issues remain.

He cited manufacturing overcapacity in China, which has raised fears in the U.S. and Europe that Chinese exports will flood their markets with exports; U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies that are supporting what he called “Russia’s defense-industrial complex,” and U.S. President Joe Biden’s recently stated concern that connected vehicles from China could pose a national security threat.

Burns pushed back at Chinese accusations that the United States is seeking to decouple its economy from China’s, saying his country is only trying to reduce risk by diversifying its supply chains and restricting some exports because of national security concerns.

“I must say frankly, too many here in China are suggesting that we are decoupling,” he said. “But the facts will not support that argument. We are derisking, which is a necessary and fully justifiable policy.” MDT/AP