Chinese Premier Li Qiang condemned "barriers" to green and tech trade today as he addressed the annual meeting of global political and economic elites in Davos.
Li said "new discriminatory trade and investment measures" have been appearing every year and that "any obstacles or disruptions can slow down or block the flow of lifeblood of the world economy".
Li did not name any countries but Beijing has tussled with the US and the European Union over trade in recent years, particularly on high-tech and clean energy.
Barriers to tech and green trade must be broken, said Li, the most senior Chinese official to attend the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine village since 2017.
"China has proven consistently to the world that it is a country worthy of trust," he said.
Without naming a country, he added that "there are many examples where one side's capriciousness undermines mutual trust with others."
"Only when all sides treat each other with sincerity and work in the same direction can there be a stronger foundation of trust and more fruits of cooperation," he added.
The Chinese Premier Li Qiang also said today that the country's economy was expected to have grown by around 5.2% in 2023.
The figure would represent an improvement on the 3% recorded in 2022, when tight zero-Covid curbs hammered business activity.
But it would still mean the lowest growth since 1990, excluding the years of the pandemic.
"The Chinese economy generally rebounded and improved last year," Li said in a speech at the World Economic Forum.
"Our GDP growth is expected to be around 5.2%, higher than the target of around 5% that we set at the beginning of last year," Li said.
Despite lifting health restrictions, the world's number two economy is still weighed down by a lack of business confidence and sluggish consumption.
A debt crisis in the crucial property sector and soaring youth unemployment have added to the malaise.
"No matter how the world situation changes, China will adhere to its basic national policy of opening up to the outside world," Li said.
He added that "the door to opening up will only get wider and wider".
"Choosing the Chinese market is not a risk but an opportunity," he told the Davos audience.
