Caixin Editorial: The Realistic Path to Rebuilding Trust

Regardless of geopolitical changes, China will adhere to its fundamental policy of opening up, and the doors will only widen further

Premier Li Qiang speaks with World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab on Tuesday on the sidelines of this year’s WEF annual meeting. Photo: Hu Shuli/Caixin

At the 2024 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, recently held in Davos, Switzerland, State Council Premier Li Qiang attended the opening ceremony and delivered a special keynote address. Aligning closely with the forum’s theme of “Rebuilding Trust,” he put forward five suggestions: strengthen the coordination of macroeconomic policies to better converge the synergies of global economic growth, enhance international industrial division of labor and collaboration to effectively maintain the stability and smooth flow of global supply chains, reinforce international scientific and technological exchange and cooperation to let technological transformation benefit humanity more effectively, intensify cooperation in green development to actively address global climate change; and strengthen both North-South and South-South cooperation to construct an inclusive and equitable global economy. Trust, inherently intangible and elusive, makes “rebuilding trust” prone to remaining a mere verbal commitment. Pragmatic cooperation in the aforementioned areas can be seen as tangible pathways to rebuilding trust, and the international community should rightly start from here to reestablish a foundation of trust, with major powers bearing a particularly indispensable responsibility.