China’s top lawmaker addresses China’s Boao Forum

BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) – China’s top lawmaker and third-ranked leader of the ruling Communist Party, Zhao Leji, on Thursday addressed the Boao Forum, an international summit sometimes referred to as Asia’s answer to the World Economic Forum’s meetings in Davos, Switzerland.

Lawrence Wong, prime minister of Singapore, also addressed the summit, while South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok spoke via a video address, having cancelled his appearance due to the war in Iran.

KEY DETAILS:

* Zhao said “geopolitical conflicts and regional wars keepemerging. Unilateralism and power politics are posing greaterthreats,” without naming a particular country. * He urged countries to resolve their differences through”political settlement” and “peaceful means,” but did not referto a particular conflict. * On the economy, Zhao said that China would take steps toincrease consumer spending and would continue to contribute toglobal growth. * He reiterated that China would continue to open theworld’s second-largest economy to foreign firms. * He repeated Premier Li Qiang’s pledge at the ChinaDevelopment Forum on Sunday that foreign firms in China would begiven “national treatment.”

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)