By Yoko Kubota


BEIJING--Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said the country is open to global cooperation after three years of Covid-19 isolation and that foreign investors had a role to play in Chinese leader Xi Jinping's signature "common prosperity" program.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Mr. Liu, Mr. Xi's top economic envoy, said China's "common prosperity" push didn't mean the country was embracing egalitarianism or welfarism, but instead adopting a long-term development goal where "entrepreneurs, including foreign investors, will play a critical role as they are the key elements of social wealth creation."

"Common prosperity," a term that dates to China's planned-economy era and which Mr. Xi revived in 2021, nods vaguely to a redistribution of the nation's wealth. Its return comes amid concerns of growing inequality and a sense that some segments of society had benefited disproportionately from the country's economic boom.

It is impossible for China to take a path back to a planned economy, Mr. Liu told the global audience in his first speech following China's lifting of its three-year-old Covid-19 restrictions late last year. He said the nation's "dual circulation" strategy, an effort by Mr. Xi that aims among other things to increase domestic consumption, would also expand foreign trade and investment.

Mr. Liu said the nation's Covid-19 infection peak and economic recovery came earlier than the government had expected, and said China had an ample supply of pandemic-related medical supplies for patients.

The vice premier said China's economic growth is expected to "return to normal" in 2023, boosting imports and corporate investment as household spending returns to prepandemic levels.

The Chinese economy on Tuesday notched up a 3% year-on-year expansion in gross domestic product in 2022 as the country was ravaged by Beijing's "zero-Covid" pandemic restrictions and a sharp property-sector downturn.

Mr. Liu said China's current account surplus to its GDP stood at over 2% in 2022, compared with 1.8% in 2021.

-Grace Zhu contributed to this article.


Write to Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-17-23 0812ET