8 sets of keywords to witness a more open China

Original title: 8 sets of keywords, witnessing a more open China

People's Daily overseas edition reporter Liao Ruiling

In 2023, China will continue to promote high-level opening-up, make important progress in institutional opening-up, and continuously optimize and upgrade its trade structure, injecting Chinese impetus into win-win cooperation in the world.

Looking back on 2023, what are the new measures and achievements of China's opening up?

Keywords: exhibitions

Offline exhibitions are booming

"We bring the latest products to show Chinese consumers" and "CIIE is a good place for us to go to both directions with new and old friends...... At the 6th China International Import Expo, such voices can often be heard.

In February 2023, the Ministry of Commerce announced that it would promote the full resumption of in-person trade shows. Two months later, the 3rd China International Consumer Goods Expo was held in Haikou, Hainan, attracting 3,382 consumer boutique brands from 65 countries and regions. Major exhibitions such as the CIFTIS, the Canton Fair, the International Import Expo, and the Chain Expo have also arrived as scheduled, and exhibitors from all over the world have come to China to participate in the exhibition and display the world's good things.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, in the first nine months of 2023 alone, a total of 3,248 exhibitions of various types were held in domestic professional venues, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 times and an increase of 32.4% over the same period in 2019. Among them, there were 1,908 large-scale exhibitions, an increase of 2.3 times year-on-year, an increase of 56.9% over the same period in 2019, and a total exhibition area of 76.86 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 1.7 times, an increase of 51.5% over the same period in 2019, which has exceeded the annual exhibition area in 2019.

A set of data can be glimpsed: the 134th Canton Fair's offline export turnover reached 22.3 billion US dollars, the 2023 CIFTIS achieved more than 1,100 achievements, and the internationalization rate of offline exhibitors exceeded 20%, and the annual intended transaction volume of the 6th CIIE reached a record high of 78.41 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.7% over the previous session......

China has accelerated the formation of an exhibition matrix to promote high-level opening-up, which has won praise from many parties. Revica Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said: "China is proving that openness is not only about removing trade barriers and promoting investment, but also about accepting new ideas with an open mind and promoting people-to-people exchanges." ”

Keywords: manufacturing

Restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector have been lifted

In 2023, the manufacturing sector will usher in a "blockbuster" measure of opening up to the outside world - at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, China announced that it will completely lift restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector.

Previously, there have been a number of favorable policies for the manufacturing sector to open up to the outside world: the general manufacturing sector has been fully opened, the manufacturing items on the negative list of the pilot free trade zone have been completely cleared, and the automotive industry has lifted all restrictions on foreign investment access since 2022...... On this basis, what does it mean that the restrictions on foreign investment in China's manufacturing sector have moved from "continuous relaxation" to "full abolition"?

"The complete abolition of foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector not only demonstrates China's determination to promote high-level opening-up, but also an important measure to build a new system of a higher-level open economy. Li Dawei, director of the Emerging Economies Research Office of the Institute of Foreign Economic Research of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, said.

In the first 10 months of 2023, the actual use of foreign capital in China's manufacturing industry reached 283.44 billion yuan, maintaining year-on-year growth, of which the growth rate of foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing reached 9.5%, and the use of foreign capital in medical equipment and instrumentation manufacturing and electronics and communication equipment manufacturing increased by 34.6% and 14.8% year-on-year respectively.

In addition to the policy support of the continuous opening up of the manufacturing industry, the advantages of China's huge market potential and strong scientific and technological innovation capabilities have also increased significantly to the attractiveness of multinational companies. In the third quarter of 2023, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade conducted research interviews with 700 foreign-funded enterprises, of which 67% were from the manufacturing industry. According to the survey results, the surveyed foreign companies have identified "technological innovation and R&D" as the biggest development opportunity in the Chinese market for three consecutive quarters.

"The full abolition of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector will also help local enterprises to further enhance their internationalization level in in-depth cooperation and healthy competition with foreign-funded enterprises, and then grow into world-class multinational enterprises. Li Dawei said.

Keywords: service industry

Promote the expansion of the opening up of the service industry in a more orderly and higher standard

Did you know that in addition to trade in goods, opening up to the outside world in the fields of finance, cultural tourism, medical and health care, and other service industries is also a key part of actively expanding opening up to the outside world.

In Shanghai's Hongqiao Business District, cross-border bond issuance, cross-border mergers and acquisitions and other services have brought great convenience to enterprises, and in Beijing's Shunyi Tianzhu Comprehensive Bonded Zone, the first foreign performance brokerage company to set up a branch in Beijing is located here, marking the further opening up of the cultural sector...... Since 2015, China has 11 provinces and cities in China that have been comprehensively pilot projects for the expansion and opening up of the service industry. In the first three quarters of 2023, the added value of the service industry in the 11 pilot demonstration provinces and cities reached 13.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 69.7% of the local GDP, and the actual use of foreign investment in the service industry reached 50.85 billion US dollars, accounting for 55.6% of the national service industry investment.

In November 2023, the State Council issued the Work Plan for Supporting Beijing to Deepen the Construction of a Comprehensive Demonstration Zone for the Expansion and Opening-up of the National Service Industry, proposing measures such as deepening reform and opening up in key areas of the service industry, exploring rules and norms for emerging business formats, and optimizing trade and investment institutional arrangements. As the only comprehensive demonstration zone for the expansion and opening up of the national service industry, the Beijing Demonstration Zone continues to promote innovation and explore the expansion and opening up of the service industry, which will provide a reference model and make positive contributions to the opening up of the national service industry.

"The pilot demonstration focuses on the development of the service industry industry, continues to improve the level of opening-up, and intensifies reforms, and has successively summarized and promoted 9 batches of best practice cases or pilot experiences, involving more than 190 innovative achievements that are the first in the country or have achieved good results, accumulating new experience for the opening up of the national service industry, and exploring a new path for the construction of a modern industrial system that connects with international high-standard economic and trade rules and serves the construction of a modern industrial system. Zhu Bing, director of the Department of Foreign Investment Management of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the next step will be based on the practice of the Beijing Demonstration Zone and 10 pilot provinces and cities, further summarize good experience and good practices, and better play the leading role of the pilot demonstration in opening up the national service industry.

Keywords: "Belt and Road"

10th Anniversary: The Belt and Road Initiative has yielded fruitful results

The Belt and Road Initiative celebrates its 10th anniversary!

In 2013, China put forward a major initiative to jointly build the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". In the past 10 years, the Belt and Road Initiative has become the most popular international public good and the largest platform for international cooperation.

The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has created a number of major engineering projects. Since its opening of commercial operation, the Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and the Djibouti Railway, which runs from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to the port of Djibouti in the east, has sent a total of 7.43 million tons of goods and nearly 530,000 passengers, and its transportation revenue has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 35%. Located 55 kilometers away from Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, the Karot Hydropower Station on the banks of the Jhelum River has been operating safely for more than one year, meeting the electricity needs of more than 5 million local people.

The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has led to the emergence of a number of "small but beautiful" projects, which have won praise. About 200 kilometers north of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, the Maharape Water Plant upgrade project undertaken by a Chinese company has solved the drinking water problem that has plagued the local people for many years. The construction of the Teben Kemon China-Cambodia Friendship Hospital in Cambodia with China's assistance has greatly improved the local medical conditions and reduced the cost of medical treatment for local residents.

According to the data, Chinese enterprises have created 421,000 local jobs in the overseas economic and trade cooperation zones jointly built by the country. It is estimated that by 2030, the Belt and Road Initiative will lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty, and will increase global income by 0.7% to 2.9%.

The China-Europe Railway Express is a flagship project and an iconic brand of the Belt and Road Initiative. At present, a total of 81,000 China-Europe freight trains have been operated, reaching 217 cities in 25 European countries, effectively ensuring the stability of the international industrial and supply chains and injecting new impetus into the development of the world economy.

On October 18, 2023, the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation opened in Beijing. During the forum, 369 practical cooperation outcomes were formed, and more than half of them have been implemented. The implementation of the results of practical cooperation has effectively deepened political mutual trust, economic integration and people-to-people exchanges between China and relevant countries and international organizations.

Keywords: free trade zone

Innovation harvest in the "test field".

The country's first negative list for foreign investment access, the country's first "single window" for international trade, and the first free trade account were established...... In 2023, China's first pilot free trade zone, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, will celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Focusing on the fields of investment facilitation, trade facilitation, financial openness and innovation, and ex-post supervision, in the past 10 years, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has formed a number of basic systems and core institutional innovations, and the basic institutional system and regulatory model that are connected with international investment and trade rules have been basically established. In a number of open fields such as automobile manufacturing, financial services, medical services, and tourism services, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has achieved a number of first-of-its-kind projects in the country, becoming a landmark gateway for foreign investment to enter China.

In the past 10 years, a total of 84,000 new enterprises have been established in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, more than 14,000 new foreign-funded projects have been established, and the cumulative actual foreign investment has reached 58.6 billion US dollars, which means that more than 10,000 US dollars of actual foreign investment has been "recorded" every minute.

The "head goose" leads, and the "goose array" flies together. In the past 10 years, China has set up 22 pilot free trade zones. On November 11, 2023, the Kashgar Area of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone was inaugurated and welcomed the first batch of 35 enterprises to settle in, with more than 17.6 billion yuan of signed project funds, covering trade logistics, electronic information, new materials, automobile processing and other fields. As the 22nd pilot free trade zone established by China, the Kashgar area is also the first pilot free trade zone in the northwest border region of China.

We will continue to open up to the outside world in all directions, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, give full play to our first-mover advantage, and take the lead in establishing an institutional system that is in line with the prevailing rules for international investment and trade...... Over the past 10 years, the respective pilot trade zones have actively played a pioneering role and formed a batch of outstanding innovative achievements. In the first half of 2023, the 21 pilot free trade zones accounted for 18.4% of the country's foreign investment and 18.6% of the country's import and export trade, with less than 4/1000 of the country's land area.

Keywords: "New Three Things"

The "new three" of foreign trade is known all over the world

Clothing, furniture, home appliances - these are the "old three" of China's exports overseas.

New energy vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic products - these are China's "new three" best-selling in the world.

In the first three quarters of 2023, China's total exports of electric passenger vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, solar cells and other products increased by 41.7% year-on-year, with a strong performance. At present, China's new energy vehicle production and sales have ranked first in the world for eight consecutive years, with a global market share of more than 60%. From January to September, China's cumulative exports of lithium-ion batteries reached 48.605 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of more than three percent. China's PV module production has ranked first in the world for 16 consecutive years, accounting for more than 80% of the world's production capacity of polysilicon, silicon wafers, cells and modules.

From the "old three" to the "new three", the changes in the structure of trade in goods reflect the outstanding results of China's foreign trade transformation and upgrading.

Gao Shiwang, spokesman of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, analyzed that the "new three" exports maintained a high growth rate, not only due to the market opportunities brought about by industrial changes, but also benefited from China's complete industrial chain and supply capacity, as well as the promotion of relevant policies.

"There is a growing demand for the 'new three' in the international market, and China can provide competitive high-quality products, and at the same time, China has maintained its position as the largest country in goods trade for six consecutive years, and is one of the world's largest producers and exporters, so it is natural that it has become a major supplier to many countries. Hong Yong, an associate researcher at the Institute of E-commerce of the Ministry of Commerce, said.

The "new three" is calling the world for the rest of the world, which does not mean that the "old three" are out. On the contrary, with the acceleration of China's industrial upgrading, the "old three" are moving towards high-end, intelligent and green.

Taking clothing as an example, today, China has an annual output of more than 70 billion pieces of clothing, accounting for more than half of the world's total, and the global proportion of textile and apparel exports has remained at about 1/3 for many years. From clothing to new energy vehicles, from the "old three" to the "new three", the comprehensive strength and international competitiveness of "Made in China" are constantly improving, and it is providing better and higher-end diversified products for the world.

Keywords: digital trade

"Digital buying and selling" is more popular

China's self-developed games have generated more than 10 billion yuan in overseas revenue, the overseas market size of China's online literature has exceeded 3 billion yuan, with more than 150 million overseas users, and China has exported more than 10,000 online literature works overseas......

With the acceleration of digital technology and industrial transformation, China's rich digital products such as games and online texts are accelerating to the world, the application scenarios of digital currency are more extensive, and the use of digital technology to buy and sell goods is becoming more and more popular among global consumers.

At present, the rapid development of the digital economy has promoted the vigorous growth of digital trade.

Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister of Commerce, introduced that digital trade includes two parts: one is the trade mode characterized by digital delivery, and the trade object is data, and the other is the trade mode characterized by digital ordering, which usually cross-border e-commerce transactions are goods, but it is realized through digital ordering. "Digital trade is becoming a new trend in the development of international trade, and it is also a new growth point for the development of international trade in the future. Wang Shouwen said.

Today, the overall scale of China's digital trade is expanding. In the first eight months of 2023, China's digitally deliverable services trade reached 1.81 trillion yuan, up 10.4% year-on-year. From January to September, the import and export volume of cross-border e-commerce reached 1.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%, accounting for 5.5% of the import and export of goods trade in the same period. China's cross-border e-commerce trading partners have covered the whole world, and it is one of the countries with the most complete cross-border e-commerce ecological chain in the world.

With the continuous integration of China's digital technology and the real economy, new consumer formats and application scenarios such as online games, online education, and telemedicine have emerged in the consumer field, which has stimulated the development potential of digital trade.

Wang Shouwen said that he will uphold the development concept of openness, cooperation and win-win, seize the opportunities of the development of the digital economy, establish and improve digital trade promotion policies, create a good digital business environment, participate in international exchanges and cooperation, and promote the reform and innovation and development of digital trade.

Keywords: RMB internationalization

The renminbi is becoming more and more "international"

What is the new progress in the internationalization of the renminbi?

In August, 58 panda bonds were issued in the interbank bond market and the exchange market, with a total issuance scale of 106 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 58.2%, and the number and amount of issuance have exceeded that of last year.

In September, data from the International Funds Clearing System (SWIFT) showed that the renminbi's share of global payments rose to a record high, with its share rising to 5.8% from 3.9% at the beginning of the year, surpassing the euro for the first time.

As of the end of September, a total of 1,110 foreign institutions had entered China's bond market, and foreign institutions held 3.3 trillion yuan of Chinese bonds, an increase of nearly 200% from five years ago.

Up to now, People's Bank of China has authorized 31 RMB clearing banks in 29 countries and regions, covering major international financial centers around the world......

In 2023, the international monetary function of the renminbi continued to be strengthened, and fruitful results were achieved in expanding the application of settlement, trading, and value storage. According to the 2023 RMB Internationalization Report released by the People's Bank of China, cross-border RMB business has enhanced its ability to serve the real economy, improved its financing currency function, and more active transactions in the offshore RMB market. It has achieved steady improvement in various investment and trading areas such as bond investment, equity investment, Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII), Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII), and Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect.

In the eyes of people in the industry, China's huge economic size and steady growth have laid a solid foundation for the internationalization of the renminbi. China's continuous expansion of economic exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries has added strong impetus to the internationalization of the renminbi. In addition, China's determination to expand high-level financial opening-up has also provided a good institutional guarantee for the internationalization of the RMB.

The relevant person in charge of the macro-prudential management bureau of the People's Bank of China said that it will continue to adhere to the principle of market-driven, mutual benefit and win-win, pay more attention to improving quality and level, and solidly promote the international use of RMB.

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition