China's Davos loses its lustre, as the debate dims and face-time with leaders diminishes

Some international participants have said that two high-profile Chinese forums, one of which was dubbed Asia’s Davos has lost its lustre as Beijing concentrates on boosting the domestic economy and confronting various governments over trade issues.

Participants of the China Development Forum and the Boao Forum on Thursday said that controversial topics were not being discussed, while debate was no longer as robust as before.

Zhao Leji gave the keynote address at the Boao Meeting on Thursday, instead of Premier Li Qiang or President Xi Jinping.

ROACH: FORUM 'HAS LOSED ITS SOUL'

Zhao, China's most senior lawmaker, did not make any bold statements. Instead, she reiterated the usual warnings about the dangers of regional wars, power politics and urged "peace, tranquillity and non-violence", without mentioning the Russian war in Ukraine, or the Iran conflict.

Stephen Roach (former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia) said that the China Development Forum had lost its soul.

Roach, a long-time advocate of China's policymakers focusing more on boosting consumer demand, said on Substack that his views had been deemed too controversial by the time he was not invited to speak in 2024. He was not invited in 2025, or even this year.

The Chinese foreign ministry asked the organizers of the China Development Forum (CDF) and the Boao Forum to comment on some attendees' complaints that the meetings were insular, and full of platitudes.

Xi launched his Global Security Initiative in his final speech?at a forum, 2022. It is an effort to reshape the global governance, and to position China as a geopolitical superpower. Speakers have since then focused on Asia, and how that region can benefit from China's massive economy and development.

China was at a completely different stage when it started holding these marquee forums. It was pushing to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, and working to connect its supply chain. China's trade surplus was $1.2 trillion last year. Now, governments around the world accuse it of unfair subsidies and flooding markets with cheap products.

Beijing, even as it pledges to?improve market access for foreign companies and rebalance China’s trade ties in an unstable world, has imposed limits on the exports of fuel and fertilizers, while strategic partners like Vietnam and Laos are struggling with shortages caused by Iran.

Boao's meeting on Thursday included Singapore Prime minister Lawrence Wong and regional business leaders as well as academics, diplomats and celebrities, but did not include the global leaders and CEOs that flocked together in Davos last January.

A long-time participant at both events, the China head of an international consultancy lamented that the speeches were predictable and always focused on China's resilience in the economy and the?promises for win-win collaboration and a "shared" future.

Xi will not be meeting company representatives at the two conferences this year. Xi met a group of U.S. businessmen after the 2024 China Development Forum and a larger group around the time last year.

Two invited sources stated that this year Vice Premier He Lifeng was to meet with U.S. companies on the?sidelines of the weekend Forum, and Zhao would be meeting international business leaders in Boao on Thursday.

The?China leaders of several foreign companies said that being given an audience with He rather than Xi, or Li, took away some of the luster of attending the China Development Forum.

One attendee stated that the value of attending this meeting is the fact that a list will be sent out to provincial governments and regulators in the provinces where companies want to expand. (Reporting and editing by William Mallard; Reporting by Joe Cash)

(source: Reuters)