 Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, dear members of the World Economic Forum, Nihao, good morning. We are meeting here at a time when the world is at the crossroads of easel being consumed by tensions and conflicts, all being able to shape its future through innovative, inclusive and collaborative efforts for which here in Tianjin we want to be a role model. Over the last four decades, the world has achieved through the driving force of technology and also as a result of China's reform and opening up policies the highest and broadest level of human development in history, with higher life expectancy, lower levels of poverty and greater opportunity than ever before. Despite this progress, globalization has now been put into question. This has led to a revival of protectionist policies and is putting international trade agreements and the institutions responsible for globalization at risk. In this period of transition and transformation, we must not abandon multilateralism and the global order, which has served us so well. But we should use our energies to build a revitalized, balanced and inclusive global architecture. One built on the principles of mutual trust, mutual understanding and mutual benefits. This newly reinvigorated global architecture must take into account global diversity and the fact that we are living in a world which is deeply transformed by the force industry revolution. The concept of the force industry revolution captures the dramatic changes we are seeing to business models, economies and society. This revolution has the potential to improve the quality of our existence and to provide us with core opportunities to address the key challenges which we confront, such as the need to live healthier, to live longer, to earn new skills and to lead more harmonious and more fulfilled lives, while also safeguarding our natural ecosystem. This revolution characterized by unprecedented interconnectivity will make the world systematically even more and not less global. This means we need more globalization and not less globalization. To promote global technology cooperation, I'm particularly proud to announce here today that after 40 years of close cooperation between the World Economic Forum and the People's Republic of China, we will be entering a new phase of collaboration by opening a center for the force industry revolution integrated into our Beijing representative office. This center will be part of a global network bringing together the most knowledgeable and the most relevant people and institutions to advance common principles for the emerging technologies of this force industry revolution. I would like to thank His Excellency Premier Li Kaixiang and the Chinese government for the leadership in making this summer Davos the foremost international gathering on science, technology and innovation, a true summit of the force industry revolution. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, it is my great honor to invite His Excellency Li Kaixiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China to the podium to share his perspectives and remarks and to open officially his 12th annual meeting for the new champions. Professor Klaus Schwab, Your Excellency's Hesit State and Government, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, let me begin by extending on behalf of the Chinese government, warm congratulations on the opening of the annual meeting of the new champions 2018 and a sincere welcome to all guests from afar. In his opening remarks, Professor Schwab said that we are now standing at a crossroads, a crossroads facing a choice between globalization or de-globalization. We are encouraged to see that the trend of globalization continues to forge ahead at its own pace. I was told that at this year's new champions annual meeting, a record participation was realized with more representatives than ever before. I believe this is because this annual meeting is an international platform attracting guests from all over the world. Moreover, it also presents a platform for multilateral sessions involving political, economic, cultural communities around the world, boosting the interflow of ideas and views among all of us. This also reflects that the trend of globalization is irresistible. At the same time, we recognize that there are areas for further improvement in the course of globalization. In this process, we believe we need to uphold the basic international rules and at the same time make improvements to those that need to keep pace with the times. These efforts, we believe, will only make globalization better serving the interests of all. This is the position of China. China's reform and opening up in the past four decades is also in keeping with the trend of globalization. In its keynote speech at the Winter Davos Forum early last year, President Xi Jinping stated once again China's firm commitment to opening up. China will further open itself at a faster pace. Globalization has presented China and all countries around the world tremendous development opportunities. In the age of globalization, a new round of industrial revolution has come into being. The theme of the annual meeting this year is shaping innovative societies in the fourth industrial revolution. This is a theme that fits the trend of globalization. It also captures the hallmarks of globalization. We have gone through several rounds of industrial revolutions in human history and they have all boosted the globalization of trade and this new round of industrial revolution came into being against the background of globalization at a time when mankind was faced with new challenges and had to come up with new wisdom to respond to these new challenges. We believe that new drivers of growth are being shaped in today's world. These new drivers of growth are in keeping with the trend of globalization and they are critical for inclusive development and growth because as I said before indeed certain problems have arisen in the course of globalization and certain groups of people feel that they have not fully benefited from globalization. Yet these new drivers of growth can be inclusive. These new drivers of growth have helped to further integrate the global industrial supply and value chains and they help present opportunity to each individual to develop and innovate. The global interconnectedness enabled by the internet has provided almost everyone in any part of the country equal access to information and business opportunity. So in this sense we believe that these new drivers of growth present everyone an equal chance for progress and prosperity. This new round of industrial revolution has also enabled all sizes of businesses social sciences and natural sciences as well as liberal arts to achieve integrated development. People with specialized skills in any particular area can collaborate with those in other fields. This is like a symphony or a big chorus of development for all mankind. In such a broader environment it is essential that we respect each other embrace inclusiveness and collaborate on an equal footing. It is essential that we uphold the basic principles of multilateralism and free trade. Irrespective of the rooms for improvement for these rules we believe that these rules have first and foremost benefited the progress of all mankind and for any existing problems they need to be worked out through consultation. No unilateralism will offer a viable solution. Commitment to multilateralism and consultation for shared benefits will enable us to further benefit from the material wealth increase of human society and also creates a favorable environment for us to all enjoy this beautiful symphony. Ladies and gentlemen, in the past several years the Chinese economy has gone through a momentous journey in the face of a sluggish global economic recovery and continued downturn of global trade. The Chinese economy was under quite considerable downward pressure. If we resorted to massive stimulus under such circumstances maybe it would work for short term but that was not our choice. I also made it clear at the Summer Doubts Forum in the past several years that the Chinese economy the Chinese government would not resort to such massive stimulus. So what is our choice? What is our response to these challenges? Our decision is to foster the new drivers of growth. With several years of efforts we are now seeing an encouraging shift from traditional drivers of growth to new ones and these new drivers of growth have been growing at a better than expected pace. In this process new industries, new forms of business and new models have played a key role for keeping China's economic performance stable and improving. We have rolled out massive measures to cut taxes and fees to streamline administration so that the market will be able to play its bigger role in boosting these new drivers of growth thanks to the enthusiasm of the Chinese people and the regulatory rollback steps taken by the government. We have seen the emergence of a large number of new market entities in China. In the past five years the number of new market entities in China has exceeded 100 million and an average year we have managed to create 13 million new urban jobs. In particular consumption, final consumption in particular is becoming the primary force driving China's growth. In promoting these new drivers of growth we have adopted a prudent yet accommodative regulatory approach that has facilitated the boom of new industries, emerging industries. It often happens that we only have limited knowledge of these new things. As I said many new forms of business and new industries have been on the rise in this process. Our principle is that as long as these new forms of business do not breach laws or regulations and do not harm public interests we will continue to encourage their innovation and leave more space for their development. Eventually the customers will make the ultimate choice who will survive and thrive. Otherwise their passion for innovation may be dampened at the very start. In the meantime it is essential for the government to ensure a level playing field on the market and the new drivers of growth for the new forms of industry. The government works to ensure that no bottom line of laws and regulations will be crossed and all these malpractices of seeking illegal gains, putting lives and property in danger or cheating and swindling or violating intellectual property rights may well be seriously dealt with in accordance with law no matter whether they originate from emerging or traditional businesses or industries. This calls for more wisdom and more vigorous efforts from the government to pursue the right approach in helping the further growth of these new forms of business and new drivers of growth. To make development more inclusive and to boost the growth of new drivers it is essential that we give full play to the creativity and enthusiasm of each and every Chinese. China has a workforce of nearly 900 million, among which over 100 million have received higher education or training in professional skills. Therefore we have rolled out a nationwide drive to promote entrepreneurship and innovation and provide a fertile land and motivation for them to innovate. We are providing opportunities to not only university graduates, returning migrant workers and also people from all walks of life to take part in innovation and entrepreneurship so that they will all have more job opportunities, generate wealth and realize their potential in this nationwide campaign. As an ancient Chinese poem reads, verdant trees and a gurgling springs heralds a vibrant season. Likewise a pool of entrepreneurs and innovators makes China a magnet for innovation and business ventures and creates new horizons for economic development powered by new drivers. Many statistics are better than expected. For example new drivers are now contributing to more than half of China's growth. E-commerce and express delivery are expanding by over 30% annually. New forms of consumption such as information and the green consumption are also expanding much faster than GDP growth. Consumption is now contributing over 60% to China's economic growth. It is fair to say that a major shift has taken place in China's economic structure and growth pattern. Let me now turn to China's economic development and policy trends in the current international environment. This is a topic of much interest. In the first half of this year, China's economy expanded by 6.8%, staying within the medium-high growth range of 6.7% to 6.9% for 12 quarters in a row. In the first 8 months of this year, over 10 million urban jobs were created and the surveyed urban unemployment rate was kept at a relatively low level of around 5%. Incorporate profits of large industrial companies have maintained a double-digit growth on the whole the Chinese economy has stayed on the track of steady progress with growing new drivers and sound fundamentals. Having said that, China is confronted with a host of difficulties and challenges in economic development, deeply integrated into the world economy. The Chinese economy is inevitably affected by notable changes in the global economic and trade context. Indeed, we are facing greater difficulties in keeping stable performance of the Chinese economy. Every coin has two sides. We are determined and confident in maintaining steady economic progress. At the same time, we are also mindful of the potential changes and risks. Nevertheless, China's development over the past decades has always been achieved through overcoming all sorts of difficulties and challenges. There were numerous occasions when we faced a severe challenges, yet each time we managed to pull through. Now, with the new drivers, we are transforming the traditional industries and that will lay a solid foundation for even stronger and better growth of the Chinese economy. That said, we are so aware that China remains a developing country. We still rank at the lower end of the world in terms of per capita GDP. But there is huge space for development in China's urban and rural areas. China's consumption structure and the composition of Chinese consumers is vastly different. There is huge potential for boosting consumption and industrial upgrading. China's human resources are in abundant supply from becoming more and more competent. We now provide 13-year universal education for all Chinese people. The increasingly competent human resources will provide stronger internal drivers for companies. And also with 40 years of reform and opening up and the inflow of foreign investment, we now have a complete industrial capacity for sustained growth of the Chinese economy. We now rank the second place in terms of FDI inflow and also we are now a global market. Chinese companies and foreign-owned companies are competing on a level playing field in this big market and that will give greater potential and vitality to the Chinese economy. In terms of macro policies, as I said earlier, China did not resort to massive stimulus in the past few years. And this year we have lowered the fiscal deficit and that has prepared sufficient tools for us to deal with risks and challenges. And these policy tools will boost China's resilience to cope with various challenges and difficulties. And under the current circumstances, we will keep macro policies stable, improve the environment for development. China did not resort to massive stimulus in the past and going forward we will keep to the fundamental goals of our macro policies while giving more attention to pre-emptive measures and fine-tuning. We will make greater efforts to pursue the policy of putting employment first for a populous country like China. Stable employment is always a top priority. As I said, we will improve the policy system to input employment first and ensure employment security. We will make greater efforts to cut taxes and fees. We will more proactively leverage the fiscal policy by further cutting taxes and fees in order to reduce the burden on companies and stimulate the market. We are now implementing policies and measures to cut taxes and fees as a way to lower the burdens on the business sector and at the same time we are exploring further policies to bring about further cuts in taxes and fees. And in this process, all companies, be they Chinese or foreign-owned, will be treated as equals. And we will also create a better business environment and expand market access to foreign-owned companies by stimulating administration and delegating powers so that they can compete on a level playing field in the Chinese market. We will work even harder to make financing more accessible and affordable for the real economy. We will stick to the prudent monetary policy and continue to keep micro-leverage ratio stable and liquidity reasonably ample. The pool is not short of water. What is important is for us to make the transmission channel unclogged so that more funds will flow to the real economy and address the problem of accessibility and affordability of financing for the real economy. We are keeping our macro-policy stable not just to meet the needs of the Chinese economy but also to respond to the changes in the international environment and that has to do with the IMB exchange rate. The recent fluctuations in the IMB exchange rate have been seen by some as an intentional measure on the part of China. This is simply not true. Persistent depreciation of the IMB will only do more harm than good to our country. China will never go down the path of stimulating exports by devaluating its currency because that will not generate much profits and benefits China but only come at a price of damaging China's ecological environment. Instead of engaging in competitive devaluation, China will work to create conditions for keeping the value of the UN stable and we will stick to market-oriented foreign exchange rate reform. Given the healthy fundamentals of the Chinese economy, our sound balance of international payments and abundant foreign exchange reserves, I can assure you that there is every reason that we can keep the IMB exchange rate basically stable at an adaptive and equilibrium level. While keeping macro policy stable and improving the business environment, we also need to promote transition from traditional drivers into new ones. We will nurture new drivers, upgrade old drivers to invigorate the market, bolster self-driven development and keep the Chinese economy at a medium-high rate of growth and move to a medium-high level of development. And I want to reassure you the following, reaffirm the following commitments on the part of China. First, China will work even harder to advance reform and opening up. We will deepen reforms in all respects and improve the business environment. We will make sure that all companies, be they Chinese or foreign-owned, as long as they are registered in China, will be treated as equals. They will enjoy equal access to the efforts and measures of the streamlining administration, reducing taxes and fees. And this is no empty talk, and we'll make sure that these commitments are materialized with concrete actions. We will not accept loopholes in the implementation in certain regions. In the audience, we have representatives of international organizations and representatives of many foreign countries. If you have ever found any problem with the implementation of the commitment in treating all companies as equals, you can make complaint to us and you can report the cases to us. Well, the government, either at the central level or local levels, must take reasonable actions to correct the more practices if they receive complaints. If they fail to do so, they will be punished. China will be steadfast in its commitment. We will further strengthen policy measures to support the development of the private sector. Efforts will be made to clear the obstacles to private investment. The Chinese government has taken a host of measures to deliver equal services involving tax and fee cuts for all sizes of businesses, in particular providing easier access to capital for micro and small businesses. Most of them are privately owned, and they are the biggest provider of jobs in China. The Chinese economy has been growing in an open market. Since the start of this year, we have significantly eased restrictions on market access to finance and other services sector. These measures will be further implemented. We have lowered the tariffs on drugs and other consumer goods, and we will introduce further measures to lower the import tariffs of some goods into China. The average tariff level will be further lowered and all these undue and warm warranted charges in the import processes will be further sorted out and cleared. This is a decision made by China for further opening up. This is for our domestic industrial transformation and upgrading, and for providing Chinese consumers with more options. It is also a key measure to advance economic globalization on China's part. Second, China will work even harder on economic restructuring. Our country is still at the lower end of the industrial chain. We will work harder to transform and upgrade traditional manufacturing and work also harder to foster new drivers of growth, promote integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries to substantially raise the quality of made in China goods and services. We will continue to work harder to ensure that final consumption remains the primary driver of China's growth. We will open up more channels for income increase of our average households. We will soon implement the new personal income tax law in terms of personal or household spending on education, residential housing and old age care. They will see more expenses in these areas exempted from certain taxes so that our people will truly feel the benefits of these fee cuts and tax reduction, feel that they truly have more money in their pocket to spend. When it comes to investment, in particular in infrastructure development there has been a lower growth in these areas and some has hit the lowest point in the past several years. We will not follow the old path of being over-reliant on investment for a large developing country as China, even for a developed country. We all need reasonable amount of investment. We will continue to encourage and boost effective investment. There are still many areas of weakness where we need to work on in this respect. The Chinese government will continue to do what it should in providing public goods to keep investment in infrastructure stable instead of going down. This does not mean that we are working to scale up significantly on such investment, but we are working to cope with the downward pressure on such investment and at the same time welcome the entry of foreign investment. In the past weeks and months I held meetings with the business leaders of two multinationals. They are welcome to each invest 10 billion US dollars each wholly owned foreign company in producing basic goods in China. We also welcome privately held businesses in making such investments. For the commitments we have made in terms of easing access to certain sectors for private businesses, the government will fully learn and monitor the implementation of these commitments and steps to ensure that they will be fully delivered. Third, China will work even harder to stimulate innovation, new drivers of growth in the new industrial revolution. All boil down to the ability to innovate, which reflects the prime of human wisdom. We need to ensure that we can fully unlock the passion for innovation. In this process we need to make it easier for institutions of higher learning and research institutes to innovate, encourage businesses to increase R&D spending and more policy incentives in this respect will be rolled out by the government. This is also in keeping with WTO rules. We will continue to encourage mass innovation and entrepreneurship ensuring that each has equal opportunity and a broad platform to generate wealth and lead a fulfilling life. We will work to promote upward social mobility and social equity and justice. There is tremendous untapped potential in fostering new drivers of growth. For example, when it comes to the Internet Plus model, we have done quite a lot in terms of mobile payment and online shopping. The truth is industrial internet can also play a bigger role. For example, applying the Internet Plus model to education, to healthcare. There is still a great deal that we can do. In this process we will be able to see that resources will be channeled in a more efficient way to support more groups which are in need for the transformation and upgrading of China's economy. In this process every intellectual property right needs to be fully protected. This is not just China fulfilling its own responsibility. It is also required for China's own innovation-driven development. Intellectual property rights protection will be more rigorously enforced in China and all violations will be dealt with to the full extent of the law. China is now one of the global leaders in terms of intellectual property royalties payments. Any theft of intellectual property rights from be it a Chinese company or foreign company will be dealt with seriously with doubled or even tripled and unaffordable penalties so that all innovators will feel fully assured in making innovations. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a world of change with infinite possibilities to develop and prosper. We hope that this annual meeting in boosting the vitality of innovation in the whole society and in working jointly to develop new drivers of growth and transforming traditional industries into this world will contribute its wisdom and new insights and ideas to the benefit of people all around the world. I wish this year's annual meeting a full success. Ladies and gentlemen, the remaining part of the opening ceremony will all be consecutively interpreted. Thank you. Premier Li Keqiang, thank you for this very comprehensive presentation of your and your government's policy. I also feel there were many messages in your speech which were certainly reassuring foreign and Chinese leaders being present here. I want to thank you for taking the time to develop in such a detailed way your policies and your intentions. We have time for one question and we will have a consecutive translation so you will not need your headphone. If I may ask you one question, Premier, you developed really a concept how China will keep up growth and also at the same time undertake structural reform. Now many of the business leaders are concerned about the credit situation and the financial situation, the financial risk of the country and particularly related also to the issue of the leveraging. What is your response here, if I may ask you? I hope I'm not asking a too difficult question. Thank you, Professor Schwab for being so polite. As we agreed, I will answer one question and you still ask me if I could answer one question. Yes, I will. Let me say that China's macro leverage ratio is not low indeed in the global context but it's not the highest either. It's much lower than other Asian countries and about the same level as some European countries. One important reason is the high savings rate in China and there's not many direct financing channels here in China. In order to continue developing and to consider the future, we have taken a steady and direct approach to the situation. We can say that the high savings rate in China is decreasing in the last half of this year. We are talking about the direct financing. The direct financing is really high in some aspects. From the recent numbers, we will continue to promote a steady and direct approach. This is for the future. In the past few years, the leverage ratio might have increased at a relatively fast pace. And for sustainable development in the long run, we have implemented policies to achieve stability in the leverage ratio. Indeed, in the first half of this year, there have been some moderation of the growth of the leverage ratio and we have implemented the structural deleveraging policies because we have seen that in some sectors there have been the decrease of the ratio and we will continue to uphold the policy of stability in the leverage ratio for our future development. But at the same time, we also found that in the process of promotion, some companies, especially small-scale enterprises, have encountered the problem of financing in Rongzi Nan and Rongzi Gui. From theoretically speaking, it has a steady and direct relationship with the structure of the leverage ratio. But as you all know, in the process of promotion of China, there are some aspects that are not so different and are reasonable to deal with. These things are inevitable. Now we are taking a series of measures to promote real-time economic solutions or to solve the problems of Rongzi Gui and Rongzi Nan, especially the problems of small-scale enterprises and Rongzi Nan. At the same time, we should develop the direction of direct financing in order to develop the capital market for direct financing. For example, recently, we found that some aspects of the investment fund have been taken over. Not only that, the State Department has taken extreme measures to support the development of the investment fund. We should have more direct financing. In this process, some micro- and small-sized enterprises may find it difficult to access affordable financing. In theory, this may not be directly related to the government's policies in structural deleveraging and maintaining stability of the macro-leveraged ratio. But the fact is China is such a big country, there may be some cases of malpractices. And indeed, we are promoting the development of the real economy to address these issues. And we will help micro- and small businesses to access affordable financing in an easier environment. And we will also work hard to expand the direct financing channels. We have already nurtured the development of the capital market for direct financing. And recently, when we found out that there might be some inappropriate policies concerning the rental capital funds, we in the State Council have immediately taken measures to address these issues to foster more channels for direct financing. 天下市有利就有弊 中国人古人曾经说过 鱼和熊掌不可得监 我们走到了今天 我们就是想让鱼和熊掌能够得监 我们知道这是一个挑战 这在考验我们的智慧 我们也希望在座的各位 世界各方的有失之事 给我们提供智慧 但是我们的目标是坚定不一 要实现的,虽然会有曲折 谢谢 We know that everything has its benefits and harms. As the ancient Chinese adage teaches one cannot get both fish and the bear palm but we want to get most of the benefits from our opportunities. There are challenges that we need to tackle in our way forward and we need to draw wisdom from the visionary guests present here today and we have confidence in our future. Thank you Thank you very much, Premier Likasin. I want to wish you and we have been accustomed that what you present