Jin Ruiting: Continuously Expanding High-Level Opening-Up
Opening up is a distinct hallmark of Chinese-path modernization.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period [1], we actively adapted to the new landscape of economic globalization and pushed for continuous new progress and results in opening up to the outside world. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [2] took into account the overall strategy for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the world's profound changes unseen in a century. It produced a top-level design and strategic blueprint for expanding high-level opening up and creating a new situation of win-win cooperation during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. This released a strong signal of promoting reform and development through opening up, while sharing opportunities and developing together with all countries in the world. Over the next five years, we must accurately grasp the rich inner meaning of high-level opening up, prioritize institutional opening up, focus on key areas, and take the initiative to raise our nation's opening up to a new level.
Major Achievements in Opening Up to the Outside World
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the further advancement of comprehensively deepening reform and the continuous expansion of high-level opening up injected momentum into high-quality economic and social development. They provided support for constructing the new development dynamic [3] and, moreover, laid a solid foundation for promoting a higher level of opening up during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Foreign trade achieved simultaneous increases in both quantity and quality. Our country withstood pressures such as sluggish global demand, supply chain disruptions, and rising unilateralism, further consolidating its status as a major trading nation. The scale of trade in goods has ranked first in the world for eight consecutive years, and trade in services exceeded 1 trillion USD. We have become the major trading partner for over 150 countries and regions; it is estimated that imports of goods and services during the 14th Five-Year Plan period will exceed 15 trillion USD. The trade structure has been continuously optimized, and the proportion of general trade has increased, signaling a steady enhancement in the advancement of the industrial foundation, the modernization of industrial chains, and international competitiveness. Knowledge-intensive service trade has grown rapidly, and new business forms such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade have flourished, injecting new vitality into foreign trade. Furthermore, by hosting important exhibitions such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), our country has actively expanded imports, providing vast market opportunities for countries worldwide.
The level of two-way investment has steadily improved. Regarding "bringing in" (foreign investment), during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, our country continued to shorten the negative list for foreign investment access, fully implemented the Foreign Investment Law and its implementing regulations, and actively fostered a first-class market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment. Despite significant fluctuations in global transnational investment, the scale of foreign capital attracted by our country remained stable, and the proportion of investment in high-tech industries rose significantly. Regarding "going global" (outbound investment), cumulative foreign investment paid over 300 billion USD in taxes to host countries and drove significant employment, promoting local industrialization and modernization. The scale of foreign contracted projects reached new highs; projects such as the Karuma Hydroelectric Power Station in Uganda and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia commenced operations, driving the "going global" of equipment, technology, and standards.
Institutional opening up has advanced in depth. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, our country’s opening up has gradually transitioned from a model based on the flow of goods and factors to institutional opening up based on rules, regulations, management, and standards. On one hand, relying on the construction of Pilot Free Trade Zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, we have aligned with high-standard international economic and trade rules, reduced the negative list for cross-border service trade, and orderly promoted institutional innovation in emerging fields such as cross-border data flows. On the other hand, we have firmly upheld the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core and announced that we will not seek new special and differential treatment in current and future WTO negotiations, demonstrating our responsibility and accountability as a major power.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a popular international public good. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, adhering to the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits," we promoted the transition of the BRI from "building the framework and laying the foundation" to "optimizing structure and improving efficiency." The levels of connectivity in facilities, trade, and financing increased; a batch of landmark projects and "small yet beautiful" livelihood projects were implemented; and the operational efficiency of the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor was enhanced. Statistics show that over three-quarters of the world's countries have joined the initiative. We have signed 113 standardization cooperation documents with 69 countries and organizations, forming an all-dimensional, multi-layered international cooperation network. Practice shows that the BRI has become an open and inclusive international cooperation platform that not only promotes two-way exchanges and synergy between China and participating countries but also makes significant contributions to global interconnectivity.
Strategic Directions for Expanding High-Level Opening Up
The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical period for consolidating the foundation and fully launching efforts to basically achieve socialist modernization. Although unilateralism, protectionism, and hegemonism pose certain threats to the security and stability of our external environment, our determination to expand high-level opening up will not change, our determination to share development opportunities with the world will not change, and our determination to promote economic globalization toward a more open, inclusive, balanced, and win-win direction will not change. We must fully implement the strategic deployments made by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and, with more proactive and effective actions, promote the construction of a new system for a higher-level open economy.
Actively expand autonomous opening up. We must balance China's needs with the world's expectations, shifting from "passive adaptation" to "proactive design," and achieve breakthroughs in rule alignment, field expansion, and platform construction. We should expand market access with a focus on the service industry, orderly promoting opening up in fields such as finance, education, healthcare, and culture, while improving the negative list management system for cross-border service trade. We must align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, focusing on "behind-the-border" issues [4] such as competition policy, intellectual property protection, environmental standards, and labor protection, and build an institutional system that interfaces with prevailing international rules. We should expand our "circle of friends" in economics and trade, accelerate the process of regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements, and promote the construction of a high-standard free trade area network. We should implement the zero-tariff measures for 100% of tariff lines from the least developed countries and African countries with which we have diplomatic ties, promoting collective opening up through our own opening up. We should push Pilot Free Trade Zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port to explore institutional innovations that can be replicated and promoted, raising the level of opening up in the central, western, and northeastern regions to form a pattern of coordinated regional opening up.
Promote innovative development of trade. We must accelerate the transformation of trade toward "equal emphasis on scale and quality-benefit" and "synergy between goods, services, and digital trade." First, we must push trade in goods toward the mid-to-high end of the value chain, actively expand trade in intermediate goods, and focus on enhancing the competitiveness of key components and important materials. We should improve the standard certification system, strengthen and consolidate traditional markets in Europe and the United States, and expand into emerging markets such as ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America to reduce dependence on any single market. Second, we must push to release the potential of service trade, increasing the proportion of knowledge-intensive service trade. Relying on the advantages of the digital economy, we should promote the export of emerging services like finance, intellectual property, and information technology. We should establish a linkage mechanism for service trade innovation and development demonstration zones, promote integration with manufacturing, support enterprises in the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, and actively expand productive imports of advanced technology and important equipment as well as livelihood imports of high-quality consumer goods and high-end services. Third, with digital trade as an important engine, we should orderly expand opening up in the digital field. We should promote the construction of digital trade demonstration zones and facilitate international cooperation in cross-border data flows, digital identity authentication, and electronic payments. We must cultivate digital trade enterprises with international competitiveness, promote the export of e-commerce, digital content, and cloud computing, and strengthen the application of digital technology throughout the entire trade chain.
Expand the space for two-way investment cooperation. We must optimize the environment and improve quality to polish the "Invest in China" brand and enhance the benefits of outbound investment. Regarding attracting foreign capital, the focus should be on creating new advantages through "access plus operation" [5], continuing to shorten the negative list, and relaxing access restrictions in the service industry and high-end manufacturing. We should focus on attracting investment in high-end manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, and green development, encouraging foreign capital to participate in technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading. We must create a transparent and stable institutional environment, guarantee national treatment for foreign capital, improve complaint mechanisms, and enhance the long-term confidence of foreign investors. Regarding outbound investment, the focus should be on "orderly layout and enhancing benefits" to improve the management and service system, guiding enterprises to participate in outbound investment according to market principles and international rules. We should continuously improve the comprehensive overseas service system, strengthen risk early-warning and control, and provide one-stop services in law, finance, and taxation. We should promote the combination of outbound investment with domestic industrial upgrading and guide the orderly cross-border layout of industrial chains.
Promote high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road." Adhering to the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits," we must push the BRI to evolve from "broad strokes" to "meticulous brushwork" [6], achieving higher-quality, higher-standard, and more sustainable development. On one hand, we must strengthen strategic alignment with participating countries and coordinate the promotion of major landmark projects and "small yet beautiful" livelihood projects. We should accelerate the subsequent construction of the China-Laos Railway and the China-Thailand Railway, improve the logistics networks of the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and enhance cross-border transport efficiency. Focusing on poverty reduction, health, education, and agriculture, we should build schools, hospitals, and agricultural technology demonstration centers to promote people-to-people connectivity. On the other hand, we must continuously deepen practical cooperation in trade, investment, industry, and humanities, and expand cooperation in green, digital, and artificial intelligence fields. In the trade field, the focus is on promoting customs clearance facilitation and reducing costs; in investment cooperation, we should encourage capacity cooperation and the construction of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones; in emerging fields, the priority is to promote the implementation of green energy and green infrastructure projects, deepen the application of digital technology in cross-border trade, logistics, and finance, and strengthen international exchange and cooperation in artificial intelligence.