Efforts to choke China will fail, Xi Jinping vows at 2026 economic agenda meeting

China’s achievements amid global uncertainty proved its development was unstoppable, President Xi Jinping said at an annual conference, while emphasising the need to stay focused on the national agenda.

Xi’s remarks came at last week’s central economic work conference in Beijing, where China’s top leadership vowed to strengthen the economy against persistent external challenges as they set the agenda for the coming year.

“It has been proven in practice that efforts to choke China cannot succeed,” Xi said, citing the country’s significant technological advances across a wide range of sectors during the 14th five-year plan period of 2021 to 2025.

In rare, explicit comments on China’s trade war with the United States, Xi said China’s responses showed its “moral backbone and strength” and had “won the respect of the international community”.

The US and its allies have in recent years restricted China’s access to advanced technologies – especially in semiconductors. China describes these moves as efforts to choke its progress and has doubled down on self-reliance in response amid the US-led trade war.

China and the US struck a temporary truce in October, agreeing to scale back tariffs after a pivotal presidential summit in Busan, South Korea.

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