A top Chinese
diplomat has said that China is ready to lead the world economy if other
nations should retreat from globalization.Zhang Jun, the Chinese foreign
ministry's head of international economic affairs, told foreign reporters in
Beijing that "if it’s necessary for China to play the role of leader, then
China must take on this responsibility,"
Zhang's
comments come just days after President Donald Trump pledged to put
"America first" in his inaugural address, which followed Chinese
President Xi Jinping's plea for the continuation of global trade at
last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"If
people want to say China has taken a position of leadership, it’s not because
China suddenly thrust itself forward as a leader," Zhang told the
reporters. "It's because the original front-runners suddenly fell back and
pushed China to the front."In addition to Trump's protectionism, British
Prime Minister Theresa May recently gave a speech detailing how her
government intends to take the U.K. out of the European Union and the EU's
Single Market.
Throughout his
campaign, Trump has attacked companies who have moved operations
abroad, and vowed to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the U.S. He has
threatened to impose trade tariffs on Chinese imports, raising the potential of
a U.S. trade war with China. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that withdrew
the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with Asia-Pacific
countries, and signaled that he plans to review the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with its other signatories, Canada and Mexico.
In Beijing,
Zhang told reporters at the briefing that China would continue to pursue its
own Asia-Pacific regional free trade deal independent of the TPP, reports the Journal.
He also touted the country's trillion-dollar One Belt, One Road trade
initiative, which would connect China with countries along the ancient Silk
Road trade route.
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