{"id":103995,"date":"2026-01-22T16:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/multilateralism-must-light-the-way-for-humanitys-future-says-chinese-vice-premier-at-davos-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T16:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:26:26","slug":"multilateralism-must-light-the-way-for-humanitys-future-says-chinese-vice-premier-at-davos-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/multilateralism-must-light-the-way-for-humanitys-future-says-chinese-vice-premier-at-davos-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Multilateralism must light the way for humanity\u2019s future, says Chinese vice-premier at Davos | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

At WEF 2026, He Lifeng says unilateralism and geopolitical tensions are driving unprecedented global change<\/p>\n

He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People\u2019s Republic of China, during his Special Address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos on January 20, 2026. PHOTO: World Economic Forum <\/p>\n

\n

China\u2019s Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Tuesday called for stronger commitment to free trade, multilateralism and dialogue, warning that rising protectionism and trade wars are fragmenting the global economy and threatening shared prosperity.<\/p>\n

Delivering a special address <\/a>at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, Lifeng\u00a0said unilateralism and geopolitical tensions were accelerating changes unseen in a century, undermining the multilateral trading system and disrupting global supply chains.<\/p>\n

He cited World Trade Organization data showing that the share of global trade conducted under most-favoured-nation terms had fallen sharply, while the International Monetary Fund estimates economic fragmentation could reduce global output by about 7%.<\/p>\n

\u201cTariff and trade wars have no winners,\u201d Lifeng\u00a0said, stressing that economic globalisation,\u00a0despite its imperfections,\u00a0remains an irreversible historical trend driven by cooperation and win-win outcomes.<\/p>\n

Commitment to multilateralism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lifeng\u00a0reaffirmed China\u2019s support for a rules-based, WTO-centred multilateral trading system, criticising unilateral trade measures that violate international rules and weaken global economic governance. He said China would continue to back reforms of multilateral institutions, including the WTO and IMF, to enhance fairness and representation for developing countries.<\/p>\n

He highlighted China\u2019s pledge not to seek new special and differential treatment in WTO negotiations and said Beijing welcomed mutually beneficial trade agreements, provided they complied with WTO rules and did not harm third parties.<\/p>\n

China as market and partner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Addressing concerns over global growth and inequality, Lifeng\u00a0said development should not be treated as a zero-sum game. He stressed that China does not seek trade surpluses and aims to become \u201cthe world\u2019s market\u201d as well as its factory, pledging to further expand imports and open its vast domestic market.<\/p>\n

He said over the past five years, China has imported more than $15 trillion worth of goods and services and contributed about 30% of global economic growth. China\u2019s economy, now exceeding 140 trillion yuan, remains resilient and innovation-driven, with average annual growth of around 5.4%, he added.<\/p>\n

Dialogue over confrontation<\/strong><\/p>\n

On China\u2013US relations, Lifeng\u00a0said recent consultations had helped stabilise economic ties, underscoring that cooperation benefits both sides while confrontation leads to losses. Differences between countries, he said, should be managed through equal-footed dialogue rather than antagonism.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is a trading partner, not a rival,\u201d he said, adding that China\u2019s development should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat.<\/p>\n

Innovation and green transition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lifeng\u00a0also highlighted China\u2019s focus on innovation, artificial intelligence and green development, noting that the country hosts the world\u2019s largest renewable energy system and has committed to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.<\/p>\n

China, he said, is ready to deepen cooperation on AI governance, climate action and green finance, and invited global businesses to participate in its innovation-driven and low-carbon transition.<\/p>\n

Concluding his address, Lifeng\u00a0urged world leaders to uphold dialogue and cooperation, saying the future of the global economy depends on solidarity rather than division.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At WEF 2026, He Lifeng says unilateralism and geopolitical tensions are driving unprecedented global change He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People\u2019s Republic of China, during his Special Address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos on January 20, 2026. PHOTO: World Economic Forum China\u2019s Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Tuesday called for stronger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/whatsapp-image-2026-01-22-at-9-19-33-pm1769098801-0\/whatsapp-image-2026-01-22-at-9-19-33-pm1769098801-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}