<figure id="attachment_3070266" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3070266" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3070266 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/db5517e4-china-premier-li-qiang-3.webp" alt="LI QIANG" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3070266" class="wp-caption-text">Chinese Premier Li Qiang rejected claims that the Chinese economy had been plagued by sluggish growth for years and was in dire straits.</figcaption></figure>
BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang dismissed EU fears over Beijing&#8217;s allegedly excessive subsidies to its industry, telling the bloc&#8217;s leaders &#8220;we can&#8217;t afford it&#8221; in markedly candid remarks during a tense summit.
Speaking during a roundtable with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, Li insisted that &#8220;China is by no means doing what some call a subsidies policy or fiscal subsidies&#8221;.
&#8220;China is not as rich as Europe, and we can&#8217;t afford it,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;We would not be stupid enough to use the fiscal funds accumulated through the government and the hard work of our people to sell our products to foreign consumers,&#8221; Li added.
Von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa were in Beijing yesterday for a summit dominated by tensions between the EU and China over trade and Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine.
Chief among the bloc&#8217;s concerns was its yawning trade deficit with China, which stood at around US$360 billion last year.
The EU has also raised fears that Beijing&#8217;s vast subsidies to its industry could help it undercut European competitors with a flood of cheap exports to the continent.
Li, China&#8217;s number two official, rejected those claims in a roundtable with the EU&#8217;s leadership.
&#8220;Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China&#8217;s manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking,&#8221; the Chinese premier said.
&#8220;Factories run 24 hours a day,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production,&#8221; the Chinese premier said, admitting: &#8220;We see this problem too&#8221;.
Li also rejected claims the Chinese economy &#8211; plagued by sluggish growth for years now &#8211; was in dire straits.
&#8220;Of course, there are difficulties and challenges, but it is difficult for us to say that China&#8217;s economy is in a downturn,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Our gross domestic product growth rate is always above 5%,&#8221; he insisted.

MatchPoint Times

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