Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan sought to reassure the world’s business and political elite about China’s economy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, while also warning other countries against dominating future technologies and making a thinly veiled criticism of the Trump administration’s “bullying” tactics. Wang said China’s economic growth rate – which last year was 6.6%, the lowest since 1990 – was “not low at all”. “One thing that is certain is that China’s growth will continue and be sustainable,” he said, after an introduction by Klaus Schwab, the Forum’s Executive Chairman. “There are all sorts of views, some are saying that China is approaching the end of its growth or we have already reached the end of our growth. If you ask us, we believe that we have not reached the end, we are actually pursuing more sustainable growth.”

Wang also warned against protectionism and unilateralism. “Many countries are increasingly looking inward when making policies; barriers to international trade and investment are increasing; and unilateralism, protectionism and populism are spreading in the world. All these are posing serious challenges to the international order. Will economic globalization move forward or reverse course?”, he said. China’s plan is to expand economic opportunities and not waste time on endless rhetoric, he added. “What we need to do is make the pie bigger while looking for ways to share it in a more equitable way,” he said. “The last thing we should do is to stop making the pie and just engage in a futile debate on how to divide it.”

Wang also said the international community must allow China the “right to take part in the global technological governance system as equals”. The Trump administration has made China’s industrial modernization strategy, “Made in China 2025”, a major target in his assault on the country’s trade practices, including the imposition of punitive tariffs on items covered by the project. “It is imperative to respect national sovereignty and refrain from pursuing technological hegemony, interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs, and conducting, shielding or protecting technology-enabled activities that undermine other countries’ national security,” Wang said. “With a 6.6% growth, we can definitely reach our target of delivering ‘modest prosperity’ for all Chinese people by 2020, there is no question about it. We can definitely make it,” the Vice President said, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Wang was among about 3,000 people attending the Forum, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Brazil’s newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro. But among the notable absentees were U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.