Premier holds talks with Summer Davos representatives

2018-09-20
english.gov.cn

Premier Li Keqiang held talks with representatives from business, finance, think tanks, and media at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2018, also known as Summer Davos, in Tianjin on Sept 20.

More than 200 representatives from China, the US, Europe, Japan, and other regions exchanged views with the Premier on China’s financial opening-up, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, fee reductions, innovation, entrepreneurship, and reform of rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Regarding the opening-up of China’s financial sector, Premier Li said that it is closely related to the country’s development phase, economic level and supervision ability.

“While maintaining a stable finance, we are determined to further open the financial service industry,” the Premier said.

“Pre-establishment national treatment + negative list” mode will be fully implemented to promote the openness of financial licenses and share ratios.

Currently, there are no restrictions for share ratios in banking. Such restrictions in insurance and securities will also be eliminated in the future, Premier Li said.

As for tax and fee reductions, Premier Li said China’s tax revenue has increased from the second half of last year to the first half of this year, which is a good reflection of China’s economy.

In the first half of this year, the profit growth rate of industrial enterprises exceeded 15 percent. The number of market entities continued to increase substantially, which also increased the tax sources.

In the second half of the year, with the obvious effect of the tax reduction policy, central and local tax revenue growth has dropped significantly.

“We will implement a larger tax cut and more fee reductions, including a significant reduction in social insurance premium rates, and reduce the burden on enterprises,” the Premier said.

The special deduction for individual taxes must be fair and simple, and must be beneficial to the masses, he added.

While answering a question about IPR protection, Premier Li said an innovative society should provide equal opportunities for everyone to motivate their innovation potential, which is also the starting point of China’s administration streamlining.

IPR is the foundation to develop an innovative economy, and China will continue to strengthen IPR protection and intensify punishment on violations, he said.

Last year, Premier Li said, Chinese enterprises topped the payment list on IRP assignments, and will pay more as the protection system is being optimized.

“We support fair IPR transactions that follow market rules, but will not allow forced IPR assignment,” the Premier added.

Talking about reform on the world trade system, Premier Li said despite rising protectionism and challenging foundation of multilateral trade, multilateralism, with WTO at the core, is a consensus reached by most countries to maintain free trade.

Although WTO also needs reform, the direction of free trade should not go astray. The interests of developing and least developed countries should be given consideration. Negotiations and discussions on issues of common concern can benefit all sides involved, the Premier said.

At the opening ceremony of the 2018 Summer Davos, Premier Li’s speech was highly praised by all the representatives. They said the Premier’s words would help the world better understand China’s policies on development, reform, and innovation.