Premier Li Qiang shakes hands with Dilma Rousseff, president of the New Development Bank, when greeting participants and business leaders before the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2026 in Beijing on Sunday. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

　　Beijing has called for opening-up and technological progress to drive new market growth, in order to enable the world economy to emerge from difficulties and move toward prosperity.

　　Delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2026 in Beijing on Sunday, Premier Li Qiang said that protectionism is by no means a panacea for solving problems.

　　He expressed China's commitment to working with all parties in promoting balanced trade and to being the "cornerstone of certainty" and the "harbor of stability" for a world engulfed by unilateralism, protectionism and power politics.

　　Noting that the current international landscape is undergoing profound and complex changes, the premier highlighted growing unilateralism and protectionism as well as the disrupted international rules and order.

　　"Power politics is running rampant, acting with impunity; at the same time, calls to uphold fairness and justice continue to grow louder," he said.

　　Li also called for upholding openness, expanding free trade and actively promoting innovation.

　　He emphasized that China's imports and exports are conducted under a framework of fair trade, and said that the nation is committed to advancing high-standard opening-up, importing more high-quality goods from other countries, and working with all parties to make the global economic pie bigger.