Asian economies welcome China’s new measures to further open up its economy

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“We have seen markets in Japan and South Korea closing higher on Tuesday.” According to CGTN’s correspondent Jack Barton in Seoul, analysts attribute the rise in markets to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening ceremony of Boao Forum where he announced new measures to further open up China’s economy.

Jack Barton stressed that President Xi’s message that China will expand imports and lower import tariffs for automobiles is significant to South Korea as China is its largest trading partner.

“China remains the backbone of the economy here. Around a quarter of all trade in South Korea is with China. ” said Jack.

Jack pointed out that South Korea and Japan welcome President Xi’s latest speech as it signals where the China’s policy will go. He added that governments and business communities in East Asia are looking forward to more details and the timeline on when those new measures might be put into place.

Amid trade frictions between China and the US, CGTN’s correspondent Rian Maelzer in Malaysia said ASEAN countries reacted with President Xi’s speech with “a huge sigh of relief”.

“President’s Xi conciliatory tones seem to indicate he is looking to defuse trade tensions instead of exacerbating them further. ” Rian noted that for ASEAN countries whose prosperity and growth have been built upon free trade and globalization, China’s stance on free trade calms fear of a potential trade war.

During his speech, President Xi once again stressed the role of the Belt and Road Initiative to connect Asia and Europe.

Rian stated that the Belt and Road Initiative is making a huge difference to ASEAN countries including Malaysia.

“It is seeing developments of infrastructure such as new ports, new roads and new railways. ” Rian said that the development of infrastructure will help achieve Asia’s potential.