China’s premier defends country’s tech rise, rejects subsidy claims

BEIJING: China’s Premier Li Qiang defended on Wednesday his country’s emergence in frontier technologies from AI to electric vehicles, rejecting accusations it was down to state subsidies, in a speech at a World Economic Forum summit in Dalian.

Singling out Huawei as having “long suffered from foreign restrictions,” but without referencing the US or EU, which have both curbed the company’s role in critical infrastructure, Li said China’s prowess in technology and innovation was down to the huge sums its firms invest.

“People say Chinese products are competitive mainly because the Chinese government extends subsidies, but that is not the case: the Chinese government is not that wealthy,” the country’s No 2 official added, in a rare moment of joviality for the man in charge of the US$20 trillion economy’s day-to-day operations.

Beijing could soon confront a second, European front in its trade war with the West, analysts say, as Brussels increasingly echoes Washington’s concerns over alleged state support for Chinese firms and the risk they could dominate critical technologies, including AI, big data and manufacturing.

Li struck a defiant tone in the northeastern Chinese port city, highlighting China’s achievements in multi-use rockets, quantum technology and semiconductors.

He also pointed to the rapid pace at which Chinese researchers are consuming AI tokens in their pursuit of fresh advances.

The US earlier this month expanded the Pentagon’s blacklist of alleged “Chinese military companies” to 188 entities, reflecting concerns China’s military could tap the private sector for advancements.

Li said China would continue to participate in global discussions on the governance of AI and other frontier technologies with a “responsible and constructive attitude,” debates which experts say will have major ramifications for the use of these technologies on battlefields and in civilian life.