President Xi of China to give opening keynote of the Boao 2018 Forum for Asia

At today’s Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Hainan, President Xi Jinping will address over 2,000 attendees including heads of state and international organisations such as the IMF and UN.

The 16th edition of BFA, much like the Davos World Economic Forum, seeks to promote an “open and innovative Asia for a world of greater prosperity”. Xi will announce China’s further expansion of reforms including the Belt and Road Initiative along with liberalising measures such as free-trade ports and the Made in China 2025 government assistance plan to fortify foreign investments.

An encouragement of Asia’s development ambitions and integration with the international community, President Xi has a paramount opportunity to strengthen his image as the leader of a stabilising Chinese economy, especially amidst a trade spat with the US. Indeed, this conference could allow President Xi to emerge as a more enlightened aggressor than President Trump, who must put forth rigorous trade restrictions in order to compel China to compromise. With control over China’s single party and a $3 trillion cash surplus, Xi Jinping has a flexible reactionary capability that Trump must be wary of testing.