The World Economic Forum’s summer convention kicked off on Tuesday in China’s northern port hub of Tianjin, during which global finance leaders voiced cautious optimism towards China’s plan for market reforms, Caixin reports.
The “Summer Davos” was attended by CEOs and policy advisors from around the world, such as Mark Leung, the head of China at JPMorgan Chase, which recently applied to set up a majority-owned enterprise in China following new relaxed rules towards foreign securities companies.
“The opening of China’s markets in the last 18 months has been transformational and unprecedented,” said Leung. Despite ongoing trade tensions with the US, Leung said he is confident Beijing’s policy path is on “due course.”
Other speakers focused on the work still left to do. Liu Shijin, vice chairman of the government-backed think tank the China Development Research Foundation, said the nature of the reforms mentioned in President Xi’s speech at the Boao conference earlier this year must tackle fundamental problems in China’s economy.
“The opening needs to solve glaring issues in the system such as there is not enough efficiency, not enough market access, and not enough competition. If we want to transform and upgrade our economy and want technologically innovative companies, opening up can help us to succeed in these,” said Liu.