SHANGHAI – The Chinese are quietly confident on dealing with the fallout of the ongoing trade war with the United States, said Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing.

“It is still early days, I’m quite sure the Chinese are doing the necessary preparations to make sure they insulate their own economy from any negative impact,” he told Singapore reporters at a major import trade fair in Shanghai on Tuesday (Nov 6).

He noted that in any stage of development of the Chinese economy, there will be many challenges.

But one should not just write China off just because there are challenges.

“In the last 40 years, there have been many episodes where the Chinese faced many challenges and they have been able to overcome it systematically and progressively,” Mr Chan said.

“And that gives confidence to the kind of leadership that they have to overcome the challenges,” he said, adding that every generation will have to go through different challenges.

“This is why I think (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) said what he said yesterday. Sometimes there will be turbulence in the sea. But notwithstanding the turbulence now and then, the sea will still be around.”

Mr Chan welcomed Mr Xi’s commitment to continue to open up the Chinese market to the rest of the world.

Noting that China’s opening up is an “ongoing journey”, he said the pace and speed of its integration with the global economy may vary depending on its domestic circumstances.

“In my conversations with the Chinese leaders, I think they are very clear that going forward the world can only get more integrated and not less,” he said.

“And the larger mega trend is that in any production of a complex product, it will be a global production chain, global supply chain and it is in the common interest for everyone to work together to better integrate that global production chain.

“If we can do that, it will bring more benefits to all of us. Not just the Chinese companies but also the Singapore and international companies. I think they are very clear that this is what they need to do,” he added.

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