Support for free trade ups sentiment

China's efforts to promote free trade and investment and contribute to stable supply chains will inject much-needed certainty and confidence into the global economy amid rising unilateralism and protectionism, senior officials and global executives said on Thursday.

In particular, China's fast-paced advancements in science and technology and its willingness to foster an open innovation ecosystem will help other countries to leapfrog and promote inclusive development, they said during the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit 2025 in Beijing.

"We advocate for openness, connectivity and equality instead of isolation, decoupling and discrimination," said Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Ren said China, along with the rest of the world, will jointly uphold and practice true multilateralism, and actively advocate for a fair, just, and open global trade and investment environment.

As the United States has been waging a tariff war against dozens of countries over the past few months, Beijing has been pushing ahead its opening-up efforts, such as slashing the negative list for foreign market access, upgrading its free trade zones and expanding openness in the services sector.

Despite the ongoing tensions, the economic integration between China and the US is simply too entrenched to be easily severed, said Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Hart said that China's development is a chance for the international community, including US companies, to reap the benefits, and US businesses are willing to actively engage with their Chinese peers and expand their presence in the Chinese market.

Technologies like artificial intelligence are at the forefront of collective advancement for the world, Hart said, expressing hope that the world's two largest economies would find more avenues for cooperation in these areas in the future.

Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank, said these breakthroughs in the tech sector "have the potential to revitalize trade, to reconfigure global value chains and alter geopolitical dynamics".

"The attitude of China promoting cooperation, win-win approaches and clear support for shared technology and innovations create a promising scenario for emerging markets and developing countries," Rousseff said.

As the global AI race intensifies, China is prioritizing cost-effectiveness and open-source models and making cutting-edge AI capabilities available to a wider range of users, both domestically and globally. A prime example of this approach is DeepSeek, an advanced large language model launched by Chinese researchers at a mere fraction of the cost of comparable US offerings.

The Belt and Road Initiative, in particular, has expanded access to capital, technology, infrastructure, energy transition and connectivity for many developing countries, Rousseff added.

"Innovation in China is unlimited," said Christos Vlachos, director of Athens-based Silky Finance, an independent financial adviser, adding that China's emphasis on mutual benefits is making technological catch-up for other countries more possible.