APEC China CEO Forum: Attendees: Trade war not to affect China's growth

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02:01

And at Saturday's APEC CHINA CEO forum in Beijing, business leaders say China has gone onto a "new-era" economy. They say it's becoming ever more self-reliant and robust. CGTN's Sun Ye reports.

They say exports are no longer China's life line as the country has already shifted to an economy driven by internal demand.

ZHENG XINLI VICE CHAIRMAN, CHINA CENTER FOR INT'L ECONOMIC EXCHANGES "Domestic consumption has contributed to some 78 percent of growth now. And internal demand could only grow, for one thing, think about how fast the Chinese countryside is revamping. And we still lag way behind in per capita consumption compared with developed countries, and will catch up on that."

The former national policy drafter says the country would take over the US in total economic volume by 2028. It's a direction that will not be swayed, and certainly not by the latest tariffs.

ZHENG XINLI VICE CHAIRMAN, CHINA CENTER FOR INTL' ECONOMIC EXCHANGES "The US is trying to contain China's modernization through trade but that's not going to happen. Instead, the US should act rationally and think about the possibilities we have together."

SUN YE BEIJING "Business leaders here say they expect China to see in the next 10 years marked an expansion in domestic consumption, a boom in tech innovation and development in the service industry. And they believe that growth momentum will not be affected by outside forces."

NING GAONING CHAIRMAN, SINOCHEM "Trade tensions put companies to the test. But I'm confident of Chinese enterprises. They are competitive enough and have what it takes to ride the difficulty out. Moreover, the open world order will not backtrack just because of what the US did."

Even in the short run, attendees say it's those who opened fire first that will suffer the most. SY, CGTN, BJ.