Le Yucheng, who was a Chinese foreign vice-minister from 2018 to 2022, offered the assessment on Wednesday at the Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai, held as part of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), one of the world’s largest trade fairs.

The annual six-day expo drew more than 4,000 companies from around the world, according to its organiser, the CIIE Bureau, a unit of the Ministry of Commerce.

At a session examining open trade and security-based development, Le argued that diversification and localisation were crucial for Chinese enterprises going overseas.

The retired diplomat said that in a world of diversified development, players should not put all their “eggs in one basket”, adding that one “shouldn’t focus only on the European and American markets”.

He described the Global South as “rising” and said markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America were “growing rapidly”.