Vice-president will lead delegation and point out opportunities amid global uncertainty

Vice-President Wang Qishan's attendance at the World Economic Forum later this month is aimed to shore up global confidence in China's economic growth amid the uncertainties the country faces, analysts said.

Wang will lead the Chinese delegation and deliver a speech at the WEF annual meeting, starting from Jan 22 in Davos, Switzerland.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, Wang is scheduled to further elaborate China's positions and propositions on development and major international issues, such as economic globalization.

"The Davos meeting is the first major gathering of the world's business and political elites of the year. Their eyes will be focusing on China's economic performance and how China will cope with the uncertainties and the unforeseen risks," said Chen Fengying, a researcher in the global economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

One of the key messages Wang is expected to get across to his audience is that there are opportunities for China in a world witnessing unprecedented changes, and China will be able to grasp important strategic opportunities, she said.

Wang will also reaffirm China's commitment to opening up and propose the building of an open world economy in his speech, said Ding Yifan, deputy director of the Research Institute of World Development of the China Development Research Center.

Wang's attendance at the forum follows a tradition of Chinese leaders using the annual gathering of global political leaders, executives and opinion leaders to present China's proposals on world issues.

President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the forum in 2017 and outlined his ideas to tackle major global challenges, against the backdrop of rising anti-globalization sentiment and protectionism.

His proposal to build a community with a shared future for mankind has gained wider international recognition for offering China's solutions to global challenges.

In 2018, Liu He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, echoed Xi's message in Davos.

As China opens up further to the outside world, this transition to a new model of development will create huge opportunities for many new industries, said Liu. "It means opportunities for businesses not just in China but across the world."

This year's Davos forum will take place amid a backdrop of China-US trade negotiations and it is not known whether Wang, a veteran in China-US relations with his chairing of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue between 2008 and 2012, will hold talks with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the forum.

The World Bank said in a report released on Tuesday that growth in China is expected to be 6.2 percent this year from 6.5 percent in 2018.

Asia and Pacific regions remain one of the world's fastest-growing developing areas, said the report, with regional growth expected to moderate to a still-impressive 6 percent in 2019.

Sourabh Gupta, Asia-Pacific strategic and economic policy specialist at the Institute for China-America Studies, said he expects the Chinese leadership to "steer the economy expertly again".

He said he is optimistic about the direction in which Chinese policy is moving, "judging by the contents of the draft foreign investment law and the draft patent law".

"China, via its new reform and opening-up measures, appears ready to play its part to bring closure to the aggravated trade frictions and thereby stabilize market expectations," he said.(Source: China Daily)