China comprehensively improves level of opening-up

By He Yin

China’s steady and constant progress of opening-up is receiving worldwide attention. Recently, the country became the first member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to ratify the pact.

This move indicated China’ efforts to advance opening-up to a higher level and break new ground in win-win cooperation, mirroring the new journey the country has embarked on to fully build a modern socialist country.

China will practice opening-up on a larger scope, in wider areas and on deeper levels, and leverage the advantages of its super-large market to promote international cooperation, achieve win-win results, steer the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) toward greater success and facilitate the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, said an outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for national economic and social development and the long-range objectives through the year 2035.

It envisions a prosperous future in which China interacts with the world with high-level opening-up, and indicates China’s commitment to the promotion of common development while the country accelerates the building of a new development pattern.

China is comprehensively improving the quality of opening-up, promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepening the opening-up based on flows of goods and factors of production, and steadily advancing opening-up with institutional guarantees in the areas of management, standards, rules and norms. The country will keep releasing more dividends to the world.

A survey conducted by the US-China Business Council found that nearly 70% of interviewed American companies were optimistic about the business prospects of the Chinese market in the next five years. Another survey done by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China also suggested that over 60 percent of EU firms ranked China among their top three destinations for new investment. The choice of foreign enterprises fully demonstrates the confidence of the world in the opening Chinese market.

By comprehensively advancing opening-up to higher levels, China is striving for high-quality development of the BRI cooperation. The joint construction of the BRI is an important approach to enhance people’s well-being and promote common development, as well as an important platform to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, as well as the approach of open, green and clean cooperation, the BRI cooperation is demonstrating strong resilience and vitality. To turn Belt and Road cooperation into a journey toward common development and prosperity for all is a common aspiration and a firm conviction of relevant parties.

President of the UN Economic and Social Council Munir Akram said that through infrastructure investment, the joint construction of the BRI will lay a foundation for accelerating industrialization and economic development, which will benefit the whole world.

The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for national economic and social development and the long-range objectives through the year 2035 emphasized that China will hold high the banner of peace, development and win-win cooperation, adhere to an independent foreign policy of peace, and promote the building of a new type of international relations to foster a more fair and equitable global governance system.

China is committed to safeguarding and improving multilateral economic governance system, building a high-standard free trade area network, and fostering sound external environment, which is welcomed by the international society, and marks an important contribution of China to world peace and development.

China’s development cannot be successful without the support of the international community, and vice versa is also true. On the new journey, the country will only become more and more open and share more opportunities of win-win cooperation with the rest of the world. To work with China for common prosperity, that is a choice to be made by all countries that welcomes open cooperation.