BEIJING – China will boost protection of intellectual property rights for foreign businesses in order to strengthen competitiveness and to further open up the economy, President Xi Jinping announced on Tuesday at the inaugural session of the Boao Forum for Asia.

The Boao Forum, which will continue until Wednesday, is being held even as fears of a possible trade war between China and the United States loom large after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese imports and China retaliated with similar measures.

“Stronger IPR protection is the requirement of foreign enterprises, and even more so of Chinese enterprises,” Xi said in his keynote speech at the forum.

Although Xi did not directly refer to Trump’s protectionism, he said a “Cold War mentality” was now more redundant than ever.

“Openness versus isolation, and progress versus decline, humanity has a major choice to make,” Xi said.

He added China would comply with rules of international trade, increase transparency, implement laws, support competition and oppose monopoly.

China is set to re-establish the State Intellectual Property Office this year to step up law enforcement, raise punishments for offenders and promote technological transfer between national and international companies.

According to the president, within the first six months of this year, the government would conclude the review of the black list of sectors where investment is restricted and remove “systematic obstacles” that make correct asset allocation difficult.

Xi also announced that China would increase the volume of its imports and reduce tariffs on the purchase of foreign vehicles and other foreign products to try and fix its trade balance, widely criticized for being skewed in China’s favor.