Chinese government officials and business leaders are meeting this week on the tropical island of Hainan for the annual Boao forum, with discussions to tackle topics ranging from supply chain disruption to the post-Covid economic recovery to clean energy and geopolitical tensions.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese government officials and business leaders are meeting this week on the tropical island of Hainan for the annual Boao forum, with discussions to tackle topics ranging from supply chain disruption to the post-Covid economic recovery to clean energy and geopolitical tensions.
Premier Li Qiang will deliver a keynote speech at the conference Thursday, while Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva and Ivory Coast Prime Minister Patrick Achi will also attend.
Billed as an Asian version of the World Economic Forum, the conference kicked off Tuesday and is slated to run through Friday. On the first day of the event, the forum’s Secretary General Li Baodong said Asia will be a major “bright spot” for the global economy this year, which is facing a host of challenges from inflationary pressures to climate change.
What to Watch:
- China’s premier Li Qiang is scheduled to address the forum Thursday
- Chinese deputy central bank governor Xuan Changneng is slated to speak on a panel about carbon neutrality on Wednesday, while Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation’s economic planning agency, will speak at a panel about the global economic outlook
- Lu Lei, deputy head of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, will join the CEO of DBS Group and a Goldman Sachs executive on a panel about inflation and rising rates on the same day
- Also on Wednesday, there is a session about the digital economy, with panelists including a deputy chief of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as well as top executives from ZTE Corp., China Construction Bank, Intel Corp., Baidu Inc. and Paypal Holdings
- READ: Dalio, Cook Among Few US Chiefs Heading to China Summit (1)
Latest developments: (Time-stamps are local time in Boao, Hainan)
Consumer, Manufacturing Challenges (1:00 p.m.)
There has been little sign of so-called “revenge spending”, or the unleashing of pent-up consumption demand, since China scrapped Covid restrictions in December, according to Lin Guijun, a professor specializing in international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. It may take one to two years for consumers to recover their income and start to feel more confident with spending, as many people suffered from reduced earnings over the past three years, he told reporters on the sidelines of Boao Forum. China will also need to import more goods and help low-income groups increase their wages in order to improve domestic consumption, Lin said.
Moving labor-intensive industries like textiles to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam is a good thing for China, as it helps reduce excessive domestic capacity and pushes China to upgrade toward higher value-added production, Lin said. In the longer term though, this may make it harder for the manufacturing sector to maintain its dominant place in the Chinese economy, and there hasn’t been sufficient discussion of this problem yet, he said.
Green Goals (12:00 p.m.)
Green development promises to be a key theme at this year’s Boao Forum for Asia, with panels on renewable power, energy infrastructure and the impacts of extreme weather, and leading companies from China’s solar and wind industries in attendance.
As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China plays a key role in determining how much the Earth will be impacted by climate change. While it is expanding its fleet of polluting coal power plants to try to ensure reliable electricity supply, it is also the top clean power producer and dominates manufacturing of clean technologies like batteries and solar panels.
Here are a few recent stories that highlight China’s key role in the global energy transition:
- China’s Rooftops Are Becoming the Key to the World’s Solar Boom
- How China and the US Watered Down a Key UN Climate Document
- China Approves New Coal Power With Capacity of Entire UK Fleet
- China Gives New Backing to Coal Even as Clean Energy Accelerates
Asian Economic Recovery Seen Accelerating, Albeit Unevenly (10:30 a.m.)
Asia’s economy is expected to grow 4.5% this year, up from last year’s 4.2%, Zhang Yuyan, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences — a top think-thank for the Chinese government — forecast at a briefing in Boao.
South Asia should see the fastest growth in the region this year, with the rate of expansion hitting 5.4%, followed by 4.5% for East Asia, 4.1% for Central Asia and 2.9% for West Asia, he said.
Inflationary pressures for the region are expected to ease in 2023 due to recent sharp falls in commodity prices and a slowing global economy that has dampened demand.
Asia a Major ‘Bright Spot’ (10:00 a.m.)
China kicked off the Boao Forum Tuesday with a call for strengthening multilateral cooperation, stabilizing the global economy and easing geopolitical tension.
At a briefing to mark the start of the gathering — the first after the end of the country’s draconian Covid Zero policy — the forum’s secretary general, Li Baodong, told journalists that Asia will be a major “bright spot” for the global economy this year, which is reeling from a series of challenges such as geopolitical conflicts, an ongoing banking crisis, slowing growth and climate change.
A rebound in Chinese growth this year will create a positive impact for the Asian and global economy, he said. But the recovery in Asian economies is uneven as many countries in the region have been hit hard by crises in such areas as food, public health, energy and finance. Some countries have even fallen into debt trouble.
“We hope to seek certainty in an uncertain world and promote solidarity and cooperation among countries around the world to better meet the challenges,” Li said.
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