What China's adherence to a high level of opening up to the outside world has brought to the world

This year marks the 45th anniversary of reform and opening up, and the just-concluded National People's Congress and the National People's Congress have played a strong note that reform does not stop and opening up does not stop.

According to a recent interview survey conducted by Xinhua News Agency for overseas experts, scholars and political and business figures on "keywords for China's development", "promoting high-level opening up" is a hot spot that overseas people pay close attention to China's future development plans and measures.

In recent years, China has insisted on opening up to the outside world in a larger scope, wider fields and deeper levels, adhering to the attitude of more development and opening up to interact with the world, jointly building a higher-level open world economic system, and opening up a win-win situation.

Meet the world with a hyperscale market

Under the background of the fundamental certainty supporting national economic growth and the stability of the policy environment that continues to promote high-level opening-up, China has created opportunities for trade and investment in China by virtue of its ultra-large market with a population of more than 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of more than 400 million.

In 2022, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 44 trillion yuan, ranking the second largest consumer market in the world and the second largest import market in the world for the 14th consecutive year.

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China has embraced the world with an open mind, and imported goods have grown from few to many, from existing to excellent, from price-oriented to quality-oriented, from single category to dazzling, from focusing on brands and services to introducing capital and technology.

McKinsey's 2023 China Consumer Report says trends such as the continued growth of the middle-income group are reshaping the Chinese consumer market, a judgment shared by overseas experts. "China's insistence on high-level opening-up will increase demand for high value-added products and benefit global economic growth." Santiago Bustero, a researcher at the Argentine-Chinese Research Center at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, told Xinhua.

At present, the third CIIE is in hot preparations, and hundreds of companies have signed up to participate in the 6th CIIE... China's national "exhibition matrix" condenses the world with a strong "magnetic field". Sharif Ghally, head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Abuja in Nigeria, said China's high-level opening up has strengthened the role of these international cooperation platforms and provided more opportunities for the display of products from various countries.

In recent years, China has introduced regulations for the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law, reduced the negative list for foreign investment access, and continuously optimized the business environment, which is becoming a hot spot for global investment and industry. Well-known companies such as Nestlé Group of Switzerland, BASF Group of Germany, and ExxonMobil of the United States have actively expanded their layout in China, and global asset management companies such as Fidelity International and Fanda Group of the United States have also found new opportunities to invest in the Chinese market under the open atmosphere of China.

"Many Arab manufacturers and wholesalers look for raw materials, production lines and products, and they end up choosing China." Haytham Thalha, an Egyptian businessman who has visited China many times, said. Bambang Suryono, chairman of the Asian Innovation Research Center, an Indonesian think tank, said that more foreign investment in China and continued investment is a trust in the potential of the Chinese market and the industrial chain system.

Overseas with Chinese elements to benefit the world

In recent years, China has adhered to a high level of opening up, deeply participated in the global industrial division of labor and cooperation, made good use of domestic and international resources, and strived to expand the development space of Chinese-style modernization, from exporting commodities to promoting overseas investment, and the dividends benefit the world.

In the inland port of Zaozhuang, Shandong, machinery and equipment, tires and other products are sailed to Qingdao port by train, and loaded on ships for export to Europe and Southeast Asia after arrival. Relying on inland ports and sea-rail combined transport modes, the volume and timeliness of exports of goods produced and processed in Chinese mainland cities have been further improved.

From reform and opening up to WTO accession, becoming the "world factory", from "Made in China" to "Made in China", and then to "Created in China". China is accelerating on the road to the middle and high end of the industrial chain value chain.

During this year's Spring Festival, Chery Automobile exported 24,000 vehicles to Europe, Central Asia, South America and other regions, and in February, BYD electric buses were delivered and put into operation in Kita-Hiroshima City, Hokkaido, Japan... The world economy strongly feels the driving force of the "Chinese engine". In addition, industries such as photovoltaics, cross-border e-commerce and digital trade are imprinted with Chinese elements, carrying Chinese designs, standards, solutions and equipment across mountains and seas to the world.

With China's opening of the door to investment and relaxed access, China's outbound investment has also developed steadily. At the end of last year, the first phase of the wind power project in Kazakhstan's Akmola region invested and constructed by Chinese enterprises was connected to the grid to generate electricity, and the local energy supply caught up with a new wave and residents had new jobs. Kazakh scholar Yeltan Ransetov said that China is one of Kazakhstan's main sources of investment.

"Chinese companies bring affordable digital telecommunications and Internet to Africa." Denford Mutash, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Retailers Federation, said, "Infrastructure development in many African countries has benefited from Chinese investment. ”

In January this year, the Nigerian deep-water port Lekki Port, which was invested and operated by Chinese enterprises, opened for operation. Former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China Mutsvan Gwa said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency that Chinese enterprises are actively investing in many fields and regions overseas, and "since the reform and opening up, China's social development has made remarkable achievements and has become a driving force for world economic development."

Embrace the world with a high level of openness

China has solidly promoted high-level opening up, given full play to its market and resource advantages to develop itself, provided valuable cooperation opportunities and greater development space for the world with practical opening measures, and provided Chinese solutions for building an open world economy.

In the spring day, Indonesian employees walking together walked into the Qingshan Park, a China-Indonesia integrated industrial park in Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. As a key project of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the park has continuously attracted Chinese enterprises with complementary industrial chains to enter the park in recent years, gradually changing the current situation of local development restricted by weak infrastructure and insufficient talents.

This year, the Belt and Road Initiative marks its 10th anniversary. According to Xinhua's overseas survey, respondents generally believe that the Belt and Road Initiative has expanded "development potential" and "cooperation opportunities" for their countries and regions. Bernard DeWitt, Chairman of the Belgium-China Economic and Trade Commission, said that the Belt and Road Initiative is a powerful practice of policy communication, facility connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.

Accelerate the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, implement the strategy of upgrading the pilot free trade zone, and expand the network of high-standard free trade zones facing the world; Promote the transformation from the opening up of the flow of commodities and factors to the opening up of rules, regulations, management, standards and other institutions... China is constantly enhancing the linkage effect of resources in both domestic and international markets, so as to build an open platform and mechanism to embrace the world. As DeWitt said, China calls on the international community to strengthen unity and cooperation, uphold the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, further improve the global governance system, and jointly seek solutions to global problems.

Today, according to the new situation and new characteristics, China is constantly deepening the degree of opening up, expanding its ideas of opening up, building a pattern of opening up, opening up a modernization path that benefits the world with its own development, and providing Chinese solutions for global governance. "When telling the story of China to Arab businessmen, I always emphasize the lessons that China's experience has taught us." Haitham said. (Written by Wang Jiawei; Participating reporters: Wang Zhongyi, Zhong Ya, Tu Yifan, Yao Bing, Zheng Shibo, Yu Qianliang, Zhang Baoping, Zhang Jiye, Guo Jun, Shi Zhongyu, Kang Yi)

Source: Xinhua News Agency