The First Session of the 13th National People's Congress held a press conference on 20 March 2018. Premier Li Keqiang met with Chinese and foreign reporters and answered their questions at the invitation of Mr. Zhang Yesui, Spokesperson for the NPC session. The press conference was also attended by Vice Premiers Han Zheng, Sun Chunlan, Hu Chunhua and Liu He.
Premier Li Keqiang presented the newly-appointed vice premiers and thanked members of the media. He then opened the floor to questions.
Bloomberg: This year is the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening. Over those 40 years, China has enjoyed unprecedented economic growth and hundreds of millions of people have been pulled out of poverty. But it's becoming increasingly clear that China is entering a new era, where problems are going to become more complicated and the model of reform and opening is also changing, highlighted by the restructuring of the government departments and the revisions of the Constitution that were passed by the National People's Congress this year. I wanted to ask you what will the biggest difference be between reform and opening in this new era versus the past, especially when it comes to foreign investment and trade?
Premier Li: Opening-up has been instrumental to China's economic and social transformation in the past 40 years. It has driven China's reform agenda, promoted its development and delivered real benefits to the Chinese people. In his speech at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos last year, President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment to uphold free trade and pursue opening-up as a fundamental policy. If there's anything that's going to be different from the past, it will be that China will open even wider to the world. With the Chinese economy so integrated into the global economy, closing China's door will only hinder our own progress.
China will continue to open up; indeed, there is still broad space to do so. China's import tariffs are at the medium level internationally. We are committed to bringing them down still further, particularly for high-demand consumer goods. For instance, we aim to adopt zero tariff for the much needed anti-cancer drugs.
On the other hand, China runs a deficit in trade in services. Further opening of the services sector will entail a cost, but it will make the sector more competitive. We plan to widen access to elderly care, health care, education and financial services. We will ease or lift the cap on foreign ownership in some sectors. We will also make the manufacturing sector fully open. There will be no mandatory requirement for technology transfer, and intellectual property rights will be protected.