Premier Li addresses the US economic, financial, academic and media circles

On 20 Sept local time, Premier Li Keqiang meets with prominent representatives from the US economic, financial, academic and media circles in New York. (Photos provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

When asked about China-US relations and market environment in China, Premier Li said: Given the differences in our cultural background and national conditions, I believe it is only natural for China and the US to have frictions or run into problems in growing this relationship. But what's more important is for us to bear in mind the mainstream and the general trend in China-US ties. In the past several decades since diplomatic relations were established, we have seen much rain and winds in growing this relationship. But after each rain, the sky only gets even clearer. And I believe it is hard for anyone to imagine how much this relationship has grown in the past several decades. Before we established diplomatic ties, we had a mere sum of US$4 billion of two-way trade. But the figure last year surged to US$560 billion, not to mention the people-to-people flow, which doubled in the past five years. This doesn't mean that I hope there will be more rains so we can have clearer skies. Hopefully there will be less rain or just a drizzle, and more clear sunny days.

Talking about mutual investment, I also heard complaints from some business people. Before we normalized our relations, there was virtually zero mutual investment. And there was also zero complaint too. But now, US investment in China has grown to over US$70 billion. So how is it possible for it to be completely problem-free. But I will make it clear here that China will only open even wider to the outside world. Now we are having this BIT negotiation with the US on a basis of pre-establishment national treatment and a negative list approach. This sends a very positive message to the business communities in both China and the US for mutual investment to go steady and in a positive direction.

Over the past three years, the Chinese government has made tremendous efforts to streamline its administration and delegate powers to ease the restrictions on doing business. For example, in terms of the number of items and areas where foreign investment is restricted, that number is halved, and we intend to cut it further. Sometimes I would receive letters from some US business people expressing concerns or complaints. Honestly, I take the issues expressed in these letters seriously. I don't want to see individual issues affecting China-US business ties. But at the same time, I also receive reports from Chinese governmental departments. They told me that in the first half of 2016, US investment in China has grown by 1.2 times. I have also seen reports from the USCBC saying that over 90% of US companies making investment in China are making profits. I think these two tally with each other. For such a large economy as China, as it undertakes massive reform, it will take a step-by-step process. There may be some twists and turns in the cooperation process in certain localities or sectors. But the overall trend is that China will only open wider to the world; a door that has been opened cannot be closed again.