Beijing Auto Show proves China's attractiveness to global investors: spokesman

The 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China 2024) proves China's continued attractiveness to global investors, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian in Beijing on Tuesday.

Lin made the remarks at a regular press briefing in response to a question on the ongoing Auto China 2024, which is taking place in the Chinese capital city from April 25 to May 4. "More than 1,500 Chinese and foreign companies have gathered at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China 2024). Many world-known automakers have shown up with new products and technologies. Chinese and foreign customers and exhibitors have come to the booths of Chinese car makers in a steady stream. Statistics show that the Auto China 2024 is showcasing 278 new energy vehicle models and 117 global premieres, including 30 premieres by multinational companies. We also noticed that Germany's Volkswagen and BMW have recently announced respectively to scale up investment totaling 5 billion euros in China and increase input to produce electric and smart vehicles. These facts and statistics not only reveal global automakers' optimism for the growth potential of China's mega-sized market and their confidence in China's development outlook, but are also the most convincing argument against the so-called 'overcapacity' in China," Lin said.

"As Premier Li Qiang stressed when visiting the exhibition, China and global NEV markets are growing steadily and there is plenty of room for market demand. Intelligent connected NEVs are to some extent the product of global industrial cooperation. The future of NEVs relies on various parties leveraging their respective advantages and deepening the division of labor and collaboration. China will further build a unified national market, pursue higher-standard opening up, keep easing market access, and advance the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. We will continue to treat Chinese and foreign-funded businesses as equals, and promote more extensive exchange and cooperation between Chinese and foreign automakers in capital, technology, management and human resources. They are welcome to share in China's market opportunities, grow together in technological and industrial revolutions, and achieve mutual success," said Lin.

"We are confident that foreign businesses will continue to stay, invest and flourish in China. China will not slow down efforts to provide an even better business environment and stronger, more integrated support for foreign businesses. China will only open its door even wider to the world," Lin said.

Beijing Auto Show proves China's attractiveness to global investors: spokesman

The tariff policies announced by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration undermines the free trade principles in which the United States participated, former Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkić said.

Mrkić, now a member of the Advisory Council of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, slammed the United States for flouting multilateral trade rules and provoking instability through its unpredictable tariff practices, calling for a coordinated response from all countries to cope with the challenges together.

He said the U.S. tariff policies violate the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a predecessor of the WTO framework that the United States helped to establish.

"I think that the present war, the tariff war which was extended by the U.S. administration, is not the one that is to the liking of many countries. And I do not want to support that. The deception is underway, and I think that the most of them are provoked by the rules of GATT, which invented all the rules, (with its membership) including the U.S." he said in an interview with the China Media Group.

Noting that erratic U.S. trade measures have injected uncertainty into the global economy, Mrkić called on all countries to prioritize collaboration to ensure stability.

China has emerged as a defender of multilateral trade by advancing initiatives to uphold economic globalization and counter protectionism, Mrkić highlighted.

Serbia is deepening cooperation with China under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), particularly in infrastructure projects like the China-backed Belgrade-Budapest Railway, the former Serbian official said.

"We have strong coordination in infrastructure, not just the roads, but also the railways. For example, from the Belgrade-Budapest Railway which was built by the help of the Chinese. And infrastructure is just the first move," Mrkić said.

BRI partners should strengthen cooperation amid US tariff risks: former Serbian FM