The China Development Forum kicked off in Beijing with Premier Li Qiang giving the keynote speech, which should help dispel rumors that he had been sidelined after he did not meet the world's press at the end of the two sessions event.

The hall was packed with business leaders and scholars from the United States and other countries. Li pledged to increase market access to overseas investors and companies at a time when China faces multiple headwinds in development.

The annual gathering was started by then premier Zhu Rongji in 2000. Since then the forum has become one of the business world's most anticipated gatherings, where corporate leaders can expect to rub shoulders with top Chinese officials.

The first vice premier had been the official delivering the keynote speech over the years, with the premier meeting business leaders after the forum.

It is extraordinary this year. The protocol has upgraded into the premier inaugurating the forum with a keynote speech, which makes reports about President Xi Jinping meeting business leaders after the forum all the more credible.

Beijing is undoubtedly imparting greater importance to this State Council-sponsored event.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Xi is going to meet with US business leaders this week. If it turns out that only American business leaders were to be invited to an exclusive session with Xi, Beijing may also wish to use the occasion to persuade the visitors to assert their influence in Washington to make their country's politicians less hostile to China.

This matters to Beijing as foreign direct investment in China continues to fall. According to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China's foreign direct investment totaled US$33 billion (HK$257.4 billion) on a net basis in 2023, down 80 percent from 2022.

As members of Hong Kong's rebuffing team stepped up criticizing critics, it may also be interesting to discover that one name on the forum's guest list is Stephen Roach, who Executive Council convener Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee was particularly obsessed with recently.

Roach saying that it pains him to say Hong Kong is over has angered Ip so much.

In contrast, government officials have shown a little more tolerance toward Roach, Beijing's old friend.

Now a scholar at Yale University, Roach was among the first global investment bankers to bring foreign investment to China.

Despite his new role at Yale, Roach's invitation to the high-level forum shows Beijing still respects criticism if the critics are its old friends. In the event that Ip was unaware of this relationship, it should be clear to her now.

As a member of the government rebuffing team, Ip has been going out to refute criticisms even if criticisms fall outside the forbidden realm of national security.

Bear in mind that financial and economic issues require specialized knowledge to understand.

When Victor Li Tzar-kuoi of the CK Group went to great pains to stress that Hong Kong must maintain its international financial center status a few days ago, the tycoon was acutely aware of the challenges facing the city.

Stephen Roach

Economic issues a different realm