China Leader Urges Anti-Protectionism, Touts Economic Resilience

A senior Chinese leader called for increased global cooperation and opposition to protectionist measures, in a thinly veiled critique aimed at the US for destabilizing trade and geopolitical relations.

“We should jointly safeguard the free trade system, uphold open regionalism, and firmly oppose trade and investment protectionism,” Ding Xuexiang, the ruling Communist Party’s sixth-ranking official, said during his keynote speech at the annual Boao Forum on Thursday, attended by Asian leaders, global diplomats and business executives.

Ding Xuexiang

Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

The four-day Boao gathering in the southern province of Hainan comes as Beijing intensifies a charm offensive to lure overseas investment. China ...