Premier Li Keqiang Meets the Press: Full Transcript of Questions and Answers

Lianhe Zaobao: In the Government Work Report, you said that China will face some factors that are difficult to predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and world economic and trade environment. So what is your reading of the external situation China faces? What will China do to cope with the changes in the international environment? And what role will China play in the global responses to the public health challenge and the challenge of serious global recession?

Premier Li: Let's look at what's happening around us. COVID-19 has impacted our world profoundly. There has been a significant deceleration and decline of exchanges and cooperation between countries because of the containment requirements. Should such a trend continue, the global economy will be pushed into deeper recession and that is something dangerous. And if the world economy cannot resume growth, it may be even challenging to sustain the COVID-19 response. In responding to COVID-19, we need public goods more than ever before; we need to keep the international industrial and supply chains stable. This requires even greater openness and the pursuit of trade liberalization and investment facilitation. With such joint efforts we will be able to prevail over and minimize the effects of COVID-19 on the world.

It is impossible for any country to achieve development with its door closed or retreat back to the agrarian times. China will keep to its opening-up policy. China will not waver in this commitment, nor is it possible for us to shut our door to the outside world. Instead, we will further expand our cooperation with the rest of the world and introduce more opening-up measures on our own initiative.

Openness is as indispensable to a country's development as air is to human beings. One will suffocate in an enclosed space. We, in this process, will work with others to keep global industrial and supply chains stable. Some have made plain their intention to readjust the global industrial and supply chains. We believe the shifts in global production of businesses should be done in accordance with market principles. In the marketplace, it is only natural for companies to come and go, succeed or fail. People should not make arbitrary plans against market rules. Instead, we should open up our markets wider to each other.

In an environment of mutual openness, we believe it's important for countries to live side by side in amity. We hope that all countries will observe the principles of mutual respect and equality. We believe that all countries should be equals, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak. And if there are some rules in today's world that need to be improved, we can all sit down and work things out through discussions. We need to pursue mutual benefit in our cooperation. We don't think for any one particular party to take all the benefits will work. Instead, we should pursue win-win. And in this environment we may achieve shared success. Countries should also support, help and learn from each other, as we can make the most of our comparative advantages. We believe all countries should fulfill their due international obligations and work together to tackle common challenges and difficulties. And China, as a large developing country, will surely live up to its share of international responsibilities.

China is a huge market. All these policies of a sizable scale that we have introduced to provide relief to businesses will further spur consumption and energize our market. And we hope that people will stay optimistic about coming to invest in this big market of China. China is also prepared to boost imports from other parts of the world and we will be a big market for the whole world.

As for how to respond to the public health crisis and global economic recession, as I have said in my previous remarks, we believe all members of the global community should pull together in a sense of partnership to prevail over the current difficulty. We hope and believe that with joint efforts of people around the world, the post-COVID-19 world will be a more open one. And this post-recession world will embrace new prosperity.

The Press Conference was held via a video link between the main venue, the Golden Hall on the third floor of the Great Hall of the People, and the Press Center for the NPC and CPPCC Sessions at Media Center Hotel. It lasted for about 110 minutes.