Globalization cannot be stopped by anyone, Xi warned as he welcomed other countries to boost exports to China.
On November 5, the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) opened in Shanghai. More than a trade fair, the event is designed to bolster China’s image as an open market – particularly in the face of a mounting trade war with the United States.
President Xi Jinping made that point himself in his remarks at the opening ceremony. According to Xinhua, Xi stressed that the CIIE is not just an expo, but “a major policy for China to push for a new round of high-level opening-up and a major measure for China to take the initiative to open its market to the world.”
According to Chinese state media, “a total of 172 countries, regions, and international organizations” were represented at the inaugural CIIE; 82 countries had booths set up in the Country Pavilion for Trade and Investment. More than 3,600 companies were in attendance. High-level attendees include the presidents of Cuba, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Lithuania, Panama, El Salvador, and Switzerland as well as the prime ministers of Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Georgia, Laos, Malta, Pakistan, Russia, and Vietnam.
The CIIE was not originally conceived of as a response to the trade war between the United States and China. Those tensions began in earnest this summer, while the expo has been the works for well over a year — it was first announced at the Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing back in May 2017. In fact, the CIIE was originally supposed to help ease trade tensions by promoting China’s openness to foreign companies – and, implicitly, signaling the country’s willingness to rein in ballooning trade deficits with the United States and other partners.
That motivation remains, but the event was unavoidably colored by the trade spat with the United States. Accordingly, Xi filled his remarks at the opening ceremony with a defense of globalization – and an implicit rebuke of the Trump administration’s “America First”-style protectionism.
