Chinese premier warns against politicizing economic relations

Beijing, June 27, (dpa/GNA) – Chinese Premier, Li Qiang, has rejected the debate about reducing economic dependencies on China, and instead called for increased cooperation.

At the opening of a World Economic Forum meeting in Tianjin on Tuesday, the premier warned against politicizing economic relations in the world.

“Some in the West are hyping up the so-called phraseologies of reducing dependencies and derisking,” Li said.

“These two concepts are false propositions, as economic globalization has already made the world economy an integral whole, where everyone’s interests are closely intertwined, countries are interdependent, interconnected on each other,” he said.

Politics should stay out of trade, he said. If there are risks in certain industries, companies are in the best position to assess them, Li added.

“They should be left to come to their own conclusion and make their own choice. Governments and relevant organizations should not overreach themselves, still less overstretch the concept of risk or turn it into an ideological tool.”

Despite the current weakness of China’s economic recovery, Li expressed confidence that the world’s second-largest economy grew 4.5% year-on-year in the second quarter, an improvement on the first quarter. He also said he expects his government’s target of “around 5%” growth to be met this year.

It was Li’s first appearance at the conference, known as the “Summer Davos.” The Chinese conference continues the tradition of winter debates in Davos in the Swiss Alps.

Li has just returned from his first trip abroad to Germany and France.

GNA
RA
27 June, 2023

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Politics Putin Address
Putin lays out options for Wagner soldiers in national address

MOSCOW, June 27, (Xinhua/GNA) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a national address on Monday, urged the members of the Wagner private military group to sign a contract with the country’s defense ministry, return home or go to Belarus.

The majority of the fighters of the Wagner group are patriots of Russia, and they were simply used, Putin said in his address to Russian citizens Monday night. “We knew that the vast majority of the fighters and commanders of the Wagner group are also Russian patriots, devoted to their people and state,” he said, while stressing they were used without their knowledge during the armed mutiny.

The president noted that the organizers of the mutiny in Russia betrayed the country, and those who followed them, and “an armed rebellion would have been suppressed in any case.”

He proposed that the soldiers of the Wagner group sign a contract with the country’s defense ministry, return home or go to Belarus.

Meanwhile, Putin thanked all Russian servicemen, law enforcement officers and special services, who prevented the mutiny. “I thank all our servicemen, law enforcement officers, special services who stood in the way of the rebels. You have remained faithful to your duty, and the people,” Putin said. He also thanked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for his mediating role in resolving the attempted mutiny.

Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee announced on Saturday that a counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in Moscow city, the Moscow region and the Voronezh region, to prevent possible terrorist acts after the Wagner private military group was accused of trying to organize an armed rebellion.

However, according to local reports, Moscow and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military group, later reached a compromise through the mediation of Lukashenko. Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee declared on Monday that the legal regime of the counter-terrorist operation had been canceled in Moscow, the Moscow region and Voronezh region, due to the normalization of the situation.
GNA

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