President Xi Jinping did not attend the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this year – as he did last year. Instead he sent his top economic advisor Liu He to the meeting. Liu He is a strong candidate to become a Vice Premier responsible for economy and finance when the National People’s Congress (NPC) approves the composition of a new Chinese government in mid-March. Liu is the Director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). At the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October last year he became a Member of the Politburo.

In his speech, Liu He told the Davos meeting that China would open its domestic markets wider and that this year’s reform measures could “exceed the international community’s expectations”. The financial sector, manufacturing and services industries, intellectual property rights, and imports are the four key sectors targeted for reforms this year.

The principal contradiction in China’s economic development is the structural mismatch resulting from the supply side failing to evolve in step with demand. This aspect of China’s economic policy urgently needs to be fixed, he said. The priority, he emphasized, is to cut excess capacity where necessary, reduce inventory in the housing sector, bring down the overall leverage ratio, lower costs across the board, and strengthen the weak links in the economy, ranging from public services to infrastructure and institutions.

“With these measures, we hope to make the supply side more adaptable and more innovative. Some initial progress has been made,” Liu said. “Our focus needs to change from ‘Is there enough?’ to ‘Is it good enough?’” he added. He said China has strengthened protection of intellectual property rights, promoted fair competition, deepened the opening of financial markets and increased imports. “With efforts to implement the Belt and Road Initiative, we are moving economic globalization forward with concrete actions,” Liu said. “China’s reform and opening up started in 1978 and has created China’s economic growth miracle,” Liu said. “The best way of commemorating the 40th anniversary is to launch more forceful measures.”

He was the only policymaker who is not a state leader to speak in one of 10 sessions hosted by WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab. Other speakers who took the chair beside Schwab include U.S. President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Liu attended the Davos meeting for the first time in 1993 as a junior government official and last year he was in the audience when President Xi Jinping warned that a trade war would benefit no one.

Watch Liu He’s speech on YouTube (with English simultaneous translation).