China Premier: Tech advances are global opportunity, not threat

Li reframed these developments as "China Opportunity 2.0," suggesting broader access to advanced technologies and more widely shared benefits. He stated that China's emerging technologies and products offer empowerment, not threats, to the world. This comes amid criticisms from Western officials who argue that China's substantial state subsidies for industries like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles create an unfair competitive edge.

Dismissing the notion that government subsidies are the primary driver of China's tech sector competitiveness, Li argued that China's government is not wealthy enough for subsidies to be the main factor. He attributed the country's robust technological progress to its vast domestic market of 1.4 billion people, which facilitates rapid deployment of new technologies, and to significant corporate investments.

As examples of China's innovation success, Li mentioned Chinese tech giant Huawei, which has faced Western restrictions, and robotics company Unitree. The latter was recently added to the Pentagon's list of Chinese military-linked companies, restricting it from U.S. defense contracts.