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China’s Economic Woes Create Internal, External Geopolitical Risk

AS Chinese leaders prepare for Donald Trump taking office this week, Premier Li Keqian warned that an increasingly complicated global political situation will weigh on the economy.

Geopolitical risk and political shifts add great uncertainty to the existing headwinds for the expansion, Li said at a meeting on Friday on the government work report for this year, the state-run People’s Daily reported yesterday.

Li’s comments came ahead of President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech to the World Economic Forum today, in which he is expected to talk about global economic conditions. Chinese leaders are preparing for what may be a tumultuous new year after Trump occupies the White House on January 20, as well as new elections coming soon in Europe and South Korea.

The premier urged cadres to be “mindful of potential danger” and called for firm confidence in the economy. He also urged a continued push for supply-side reforms this year as well as powerful measures to address underlying risks to the world’s second largest economy. — Bloomberg