Beijing, 22 Dec (Xinhua) -- "The sea can become big because it does not give up its water, and the mountains can become high because it does not give up its soil and rocks." Shanghai is so big because it can be tolerant." In early winter, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Shanghai for inspection. In this place, which is leading China's opening up, "it is necessary to vigorously promote pioneering reform and leading opening up in an all-round way", "further enhance the radiation energy level of the Hongqiao International Open Hub", "promote a higher level of opening up to the outside world in the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone", and "strive to become a powerful engine for smoothing the economic cycle of the mainland and a strategic hub connecting domestic and international dual circulation...... General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important arrangements for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up from a higher starting point have sent a strong signal to the world that China is connected with the world and open up for win-win results.
Aerial view of the Lujiazui area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone from the North Bund in Hongkou District, Shanghai (drone panoramic photo taken on January 10, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe
Opening up is China's choice to grasp the general trend of history. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978 opened the historical curtain of reform and opening up. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2013 ushered in a new situation in China's reform and opening up. Over the past 45 years of reform and opening up, from the establishment of special economic zones such as Shenzhen to the opening up of coastal and inland central cities, from joining the World Trade Organization to jointly building the "Belt and Road", from the establishment of pilot free trade zones to the holding of the China International Import Expo, from "bringing in" to "going out", from "bringing in" to "going out...... The pace of China's opening up has never stopped. Jim Rogers, a world-renowned investor, said that China's choice of development path and direction is correct, and promoting high-level opening up will make China one of the most important and successful countries in the world in the 21 st century. Gu Qingyang, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, pointed out that China has further expanded its opening-up and deepened its integration into the world economy on the basis of consolidating domestic economic development, which has made the domestic and international dual circulation smoother.
Openness is a distinctive hallmark of contemporary China. In the logic of China's economic development, opening up is a must. "Reform and opening up is a key move that will determine the fate of contemporary China, and it is also a key move that will determine the success or failure of Chinese-style modernization. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "comprehensively improve the level of open economy", the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed to "promote the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive opening-up", and the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "promote high-level opening-up" - with the continuous improvement of the requirements for opening up, China's commodity and factor flow opening-up has continued to improve, and the institutional opening-up of rules, regulations, management, and standards has been further promoted. Since the beginning of this year, China has made great efforts to promote high-level financial opening-up, from the successful holding of the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to the 6th CIIE and the 2nd Global Digital Trade Expo, from the high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to the initiative to align with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement High-standard economic and trade rules...... China's door is opening wider and wider. Dai Pu, co-president of Roland Berger's Global Management Committee, believes that at a time when protectionism has caused the globalization process to encounter headwinds, China's declaration of continuing to expand its opening up is something that everyone is happy to see.
Exterior view of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the venue of the 6th CIIE (taken on November 2, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xin Mengchen
Openness is an agreement between China and the world to develop hand in hand. China has opened wider to the outside world and developed itself for the benefit of the world. In the decade of the new era, China's economic strength has not only achieved a leap in "quantity", but also witnessed a leap in "quality". China's opening-up strategy has turned the world's development into an opportunity for China, and China's growth has become the driving force for the world. With an average annual contribution rate of more than 30% to world economic growth, China has become an important engine driving the world economy. China has become a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and is a major source of investment for more and more countries. The 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation has yielded fruitful results, with Chinese and foreign enterprises reaching a business cooperation agreement of US$97.2 billion. The Belt and Road Initiative has moved from China's initiative to international practice, from concept to action, from vision to reality, and has become a popular international public good and international cooperation platform in the world today. Tang Zhimin, Director of the China-ASEAN Research Center of Thailand's Chia Tai School of Management, pointed out that China's door to the outside world is opening wider and wider, and China is unswervingly sharing opportunities with the world, injecting more confidence and impetus into the development of the world economy. "I believe that China will continue to inject strong impetus into the world's modernization with its own high-quality development!"
China's economic sea is open and vast, full of vigor and hope. China has chosen to alleviate the difficulties of development through openness, to harness the power of cooperation through openness, to gather the momentum of innovation through openness, and to seek shared benefits through openness, so as to promote economic globalization and enhance the development momentum of all countries, so that the fruits of development can benefit people of all countries in a more equitable manner. The trend of the times of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results is rolling forward, and an open and confident China has always stood on the right side of history.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Qin Hong Text Editor: Song Yanlin
Source: Author: Xinhua News Agency