China’s Xi Jinping says ‘law of the the jungle’ is over as trade war bites

President Xi Jinping opened the world's biggest trade fair in Shanghai by again positioning China as a champion of globalisation and taking a swipe at US president Donald Trump over a bitter trade war between the world's two biggest economies by saying the days of the law of the jungle were over.

"As globalisation deepens, the practices of law of jungle and winner-take-all are a dead end," the Chinese president said in a speech to launch the first China International Import Expo (CIIE).

"Inclusion and reciprocity, win-win and mutual benefits are a widening road . . . All countries should be committed to opening up and oppose protectionism and unilateralism in a clear-cut stand," Xi said. The expo features over 3,600 companies from 172 countries, including a delegation from Ireland led by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys.

There are 18 heads of state attending the event, including leaders from Russia, Pakistan and Vietnam, but no major Western leaders will attend, and notably the Trump administration is not sending senior government officials.

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The Chinese leader said waves of protectionism and unilateralism were threatening global growth – another dig at Mr Trump – and he believed the expo would help garner support for free trade and inject certainty to the world economy.

Lower tariffs

Mr Xi said China would lower import tariffs and continue to make it easier for US firms to gain access to the attractive Chinese consumer market.

The European Union has called on China to take firm action to open up its market to foreign firms, saying that it needed to introduce a level playing field.

Mr Trump accuses China of encouraging a huge trade deficit with the US, of stealing intellectual property and of putting barriers in place to discourage US companies from entering the Chinese market.

The US has introduced extra tariffs of 10 per cent on $200 billion (€175 billion) of Chinese products, which are due to increase to 25 per cent by the end of the year, while China has imposed around $60 billion (€53 billion) worth of tariffs on American goods.

Both have already levied taxes of around $50 billion (€44 billion) on each other’s goods.

Mr Trump is expected to meet Mr Xi later this month, but has said that if a deal is not made with China, he could impose tariffs on another €234 billion in Chinese imports.

Anti-riot police

Security in China’s financial centre has been intensified for the gathering. There are regular checks of hotel rooms and luggage is examined on check-in, while the airports and train stations are patrolled by SWAT teams and anti-riot police. There are also teams of volunteers monitoring the streets of Shanghai, while major intersections are manned by groups of regular police.

The Great Firewall of China, the system of control used to keep a tight grip on the internet, has been stepped up in the run-up to the conference.

Net nannies have stepped up controls on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) which many in China, especially foreign companies, use to get around internet controls and access banned sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.