Chinese Premier Li Keqiang took a wide range of questions during his media briefing at the end of the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 15 in Beijing, including on the economy and China-U.S. relations. Premier Li highlighted the damage that any trade war between China and the U.S. would inflict, saying American companies would be the first to suffer. “We don’t want to see any trade war breaking out between the two nations. That wouldn’t make our trade fairer,” Li said. “Our hope on the Chinese side is that no matter what bumps this relationship hits, we hope it’ll continue to move forward in a positive direction. I believe whatever differences we may have we can all sit down and talk to each other and work together to find solutions.” Li added he felt optimistic about the development of Sino-U.S. relations. Li dismissed allegations by U.S. President Donald Trump that China was stealing American manufacturing jobs, saying trade with China created over 1 million jobs in the U.S. last year alone.

On relations with Hong Kong, Premier Li gave details of the new initiative to allow Hong Kong investors to invest in the Chinese bond market, which will be launched this year. The scheme follows the stock connect system between Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and will help maintain Hong Kong’s position as an “international financial center” as well as opening more investment channels for Hong Kong residents, the Premier said. On tensions in the South China Sea, Li said China does not want to see Southeast Asian countries compelled to “pick a side” between Beijing and Washington, and China would continue to support ASEAN’s leadership role in regional affairs. Talks with ASEAN over a code of conduct in the region have made substantive progress, he added. On the economy, Li said his big achievement over the past four years since he took office as Premier was that he has kept the Chinese growth rate at a reasonable range. Fears last year about a hard landing turned out to be premature as the Chinese economy stabilized, largely thanks to government-backed infrastructure spending. “The talk that there will be a hard landing in China should end now,” he said. Li added that China’s steady economic growth over the past four years was not achieved by all-out stimulus, but by upgrading industry and increasing consumption. About the growth target of 6.5% for 2017, Li said the growth rate was “not low, and not easy to achieve”, and China would remain an important force empowering global economic growth. Li said the biggest challenge was to reduce administrative procedures and red tape.

Li also said that “tensions on the Korean peninsula may lead to conflict” and bring harm to all parties. “It’s common sense that no one wants to see chaos on their doorstep,” he said, but he did not mention the dispute with South Korea and the U.S. over the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. Premier Li said China will continue to support a united European Union and a strong euro. He did not say anything about the Communist Party Congress to be held later this year, which will see changes among the top leadership. Neither did he touch on corruption, human rights, Tibet or Xinjiang during his answers to journalists’ questions, the South China Morning Post reports.