Huang Maoxing: Theoretical Logic and Practical Orientation of Promoting the Construction of a New Development Pattern with High-Level Opening-up
The "Suggestions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," deliberated and adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, systematically plans the main goals and strategic tasks of China's economic and social development during the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" period. It clearly points out strategic requirements such as "building a strong domestic market and accelerating the construction of a New Era development pattern" and "expanding high-level opening up to create a new situation of win-win cooperation." These instructions inject new momentum into expanding high-level opening up and accelerating the construction of a New Era development pattern at a new historical starting point.
Opening up is a distinct hallmark of Chinese-path modernization; it is also an inevitable choice for promoting the smooth circulation of economic development and constructing a New Era development pattern. The construction of a New Era development pattern is a major strategic deployment made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core after assessing the current situation. It vividly reflects our country's firm conviction in achieving high-level self-reliance and self-improvement while implementing a more proactive strategy of opening up. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "Building a New Era development pattern is a systemic and deep-seated reform concerning the overall situation; it is a strategic plan based on the present and looking toward the long term." He further emphasized: "We must scientifically understand the relationship between the domestic macro-circulation and the domestic-international dual circulation. We must act proactively and skillfully, build a new system for a higher-level open economy, and implement opening up across a wider scope, in broader fields, and at a deeper level." On the new journey, we must profoundly grasp General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on constructing a New Era development pattern, scientifically understand the dialectical relationship between autonomy and openness contained therein, unswervingly promote high-level opening up, and use high-level openness to boost the accelerated formation of the New Era development pattern.
I. Constructing a New Era development pattern embodies the dialectical relationship between building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up
Constructing a New Era development pattern—with the domestic macro-circulation as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual circulations mutually reinforcing each other—profoundly reflects the dialectical unity between building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up. Building a strong domestic market is the foundation and the source of confidence for high-level opening up, while high-level opening up is the path and driving force for the leap in the functional level of the domestic market. The two are not in opposition but are an organic whole that provides mutual support and dynamic balance. Only by insisting on the equal importance of building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up can we fully release the synergistic effect of both domestic and international markets and resources, achieving a unity of quality, structure, scale, speed, benefit, and security in development.
1. Building a strong domestic market is the solid foundation for high-level opening up, emphasizing the enhancement of the internal driving force and reliability of the domestic macro-circulation.
Economic circulation is a process of repeated social reproduction involving the links of production, distribution, circulation, and consumption. Production is the starting point, and consumption is the endpoint—as well as the starting point for new social reproduction—while distribution and circulation are the bridges connecting the two. Under market economy conditions, the domestic macro-circulation is a combination of the circulation of commodities and the circulation of value. It requires both the efficient operation of goods and services throughout the entire process of social reproduction and the orderly circulation of monetary capital.
Constructing a New Era development pattern emphasizes the domestic macro-circulation as the mainstay. This requires the domestic market to have strong control over the social reproduction process, better leveraging the advantages of our country’s ultra-large-scale market. From the demand side, expanding domestic demand is the strategic pivot for opening up. By deepening supply-side structural reform to clear the bottlenecks and "chokepoints" [1] of the economic cycle, we can fully utilize the key roles of consumption and investment. This strengthens the resilience of the supply system while effectively releasing total social demand, injecting momentum into the domestic macro-circulation. Simultaneously, the demand potential of an ultra-large-scale market "siphons" factor resources from the international market, giving full play to scale and agglomeration effects. This provides precious growth space for domestic industries, allowing enterprises to develop core competitiveness while building a strong domestic market. This establishes the supply-and-demand foundation for expanding high-level opening up and shapes advantages for participating in global competition and cooperation.
From the perspective of innovative development, high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement serve as the strategic support for opening up. This requires the comprehensive strengthening of independent innovation, maintaining the focus of economic development on the real economy, and comprehensively optimizing and upgrading the industrial structure. New technologies must be used to spawn new products, new business forms, and new models, promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy. By consolidating the foundation of economic development and driving the smooth flow of the economic cycle through high-level independent innovation, we can form higher-efficiency and higher-level input-output relationships. This allows us to gain the initiative in development by achieving autonomous supply in industrial and supply chains and ensuring that key core technologies are independent, secure, and controllable.
Therefore, building a unified, efficient, and standardized strong domestic market based on the domestic macro-circulation is the fundamental guarantee for implementing high-level opening up with an autonomous and confident posture. Its core is to ensure the security of industrial and supply chains, effectively strengthen the internal drive and reliability of the domestic macro-circulation, and ensure that strategic resolve is maintained in a complex open environment, thereby advancing higher-level opening up on a foundation of high autonomy.
2. High-level opening up is the expansion and deepening of building a strong domestic market, emphasizing the enhancement of the competitiveness and pioneering spirit of the international circulation.
Economic circulation includes not only the virtuous cycle of the domestic market but also necessarily the effective circulation of the world market across global geographical space. Economic globalization is a dynamic process of cross-border flow and allocation of factors such as commodities, capital, technology, and talent. Its core lies in integrating resources, optimizing the division of labor, and improving efficiency through broader spatial dimensions. In this process, the international circulation is the natural extension and "testing ground" for the capacity of the domestic market. It requires deep participation in the global industrial division of labor and value chain collaboration, as well as taking the initiative in global rule-making, standard-setting, and resource allocation, achieving a leap from "factor-flow" opening up to "institutional" opening up [2]. This means that while a strong domestic market is the foundation, high-level opening up is the key engine that drives the upgrade of domestic capabilities and shapes new advantages in international competition.
Over more than 40 years of Reform and Opening Up, the growth and strengthening of China's economy have been inseparable from its deep integration with the world economy and its courageous advancement within the historical tide of economic globalization. In the process of merging into the international circulation, high-level opening up is the inevitable path and deepening mechanism for building a strong domestic market. By deeply participating in global competition and cooperation, we ensure that we seize opportunities and lead changes in economic globalization, drawing wisdom and forging stronger autonomous capabilities through a higher level of openness.
At the level of resource allocation, we must persist in optimizing factor combinations with a global perspective. We must make efforts in areas such as aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, building a new system for a higher-level open economy, and creating new advantages in international cooperation and competition. This will break down barriers in the international circulation and give full play to the synergistic effects of the "two markets and two resources." Through high-level opening up, we introduce global advanced technology, management experience, and high-end factors, deeply embedding ourselves in and actively constructing global innovation networks and industrial/supply chain systems. While improving the international competitiveness of our industries, this also injects higher-quality and more cutting-edge factor resources into the domestic market, achieving a virtuous interaction and a functional leap between the internal and external circulations.
At the level of developmental momentum, using "opening up to promote reform, innovation, and development" requires full utilization of global innovation resources and market space. This forces domestic industrial upgrading, technological progress, and institutional innovation through open competition. It increases our discourse power and influence in the formulation of international rules and nurtures new growth points and growth poles in responding to global challenges. Therefore, high-level opening up is an inevitable requirement for building a strong domestic market. By opening up at a high level, we can develop diversified international markets, lead international cooperation in emerging fields, improve efficiency in global resource allocation, and promote progress through mutual learning in technological exchange. This continuously expands new spaces for economic development, shapes new advantages in international economic cooperation and competition, and forges a more powerful and sustainable momentum for national development within the deep integration into the world economy. This promotes the effective external extension and "spiral rise" of domestic market power.
3. Building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up develop synergistically through mutual promotion, emphasizing the dynamic balance of smooth domestic and international dual circulations.
Building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up constitute two sides of the same coin in the New Era development pattern. In practice, weights and interactions between the two are constantly adjusted, and their goals are unified under the strategic objective of accelerating the construction of the New Era development pattern. The New Era development pattern is a complex systemic project that relies on the advantages of the large-scale domestic market to realize the efficient linkage and mutual promotion of domestic and international markets and resources. The domestic circulation emphasizes stability and internal drive, while the international circulation emphasizes competitiveness and extensibility. The two share a dialectically unified and mutually reinforcing relationship of synergistic development, constituting an organic whole. This requires that commodities, services, capital, technology, talent, and other factors achieve optimized allocation and efficient circulation within a larger spatial scope, forming a higher-level dynamic balance between supply and demand.
From the perspective of reciprocal circulation, we should use the construction of a strong domestic market as a "pull" to promote the continuous stabilization and prosperous development of the domestic market. This attracts and carries global high-end factor resources, providing a solid foundation for raising the level and efficiency of international circulation. Simultaneously, the vast space and competitive pressure brought by high-level opening up stimulate domestic innovation vitality, forcing industrial upgrading and institutional change. This, in turn, feeds back into the leap in quality and efficiency of the domestic macro-circulation, forming a positive feedback mechanism where "autonomy promotes openness, and openness strengthens autonomy."
From the perspective of systemic resilience, we must coordinate development and security, placing the enhancement of industrial and supply chain resilience and security at the core. On one hand, we must build a "firewall" against external risks through breakthroughs in key core technologies and the construction of an autonomous and controllable modern industrial system, ensuring that the domestic circulation can function normally under extreme conditions. On the other hand, we must persist in high-level opening up, enhancing the overall resilience and adaptive adjustment capability of the economic system against external shocks through diversified international market layouts, deep participation in global governance and rule-making, and the construction of an international cooperation system for industrial and supply chains based on mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
From the perspective of developmental efficacy, building a strong domestic market and high-level opening up proceed in synergy. The internal and external functions link and reinforce each other, continuously stimulating long-term momentum and quality transformation in economic growth. This effectively promotes the economic system in achieving a Pareto improvement [3] in input-output at a higher level, transforming scale advantages, innovation advantages, and institutional advantages into sustainable global competitive advantages. It achieves long-term healthy economic development and a systemic increase in comprehensive national strength within a dynamic balance. Therefore, only by constructing an internally and externally connected, secure, and reliable economic circulation system through the deep synergistic development of a strong domestic market and high-level opening up—using the certainty of the internal market to resist the uncertainty of the external environment, and using the initiative of opening up to win the cooperativeness of global competition—can we build a future-oriented, long-term development advantage amidst the profound adjustment of the global economic landscape. This will ultimately achieve a dynamic balance between high-quality development and high-level security.
II. Promoting high-level opening up is an inherent requirement of building a New Era development pattern
The New Era development pattern is a strategic plan formulated by the CPC Central Committee based on the present and looking toward the long term. It is a systemic and deep-seated change concerning the overall situation. Its essence lies in relying on the localized advantages of our country’s ultra-large-scale domestic demand market and complete industrial system, while integrating high-quality global production factors and aligning with advanced international rules through high-level opening up. This forms a new growth mechanism where internal and external advantages combine and stimulate each other. High-level opening up is an inherent part of constructing a New Era development pattern; it runs through the entire process of building this pattern, exhibiting clear characteristics of continuity and stage-based progression.
1. High-level opening up has run through the history of exploring the New Era development pattern.
In the early stages of Reform and Opening Up, the objective of opening up was to break through the constraints of the planned economy system and integrate into economic globalization. An opening up model based on the flow of commodities and factors laid the foundation for our country's participation in the international division of labor. Using Special Economic Zones (SEZs) such as Shenzhen and Zhuhai as breakthroughs, an opening pattern dominated by "bringing in" [4] was formed. By establishing coastal open cities and economic and technological development zones, China vigorously attracted foreign capital and introduced technology and management experience. This model effectively activated domestic idle labor, land, and other primary resource factors, promoting China’s rapid embedding into global value chains dominated by multinational corporations; thus, foreign trade development entered the "fast lane."
In 2001, our country successfully joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), deeply embedding itself in the global economic governance system based on multilateral rules. This accumulated a large foreign exchange reserve, a relatively complete industrial system foundation, a preliminary market-oriented system, and foreign trade management capabilities for subsequent development. During this stage, opening up was mainly oriented toward the international flow of primary factors and market access, with an international circulation driven by export-orientation. Although this injected great vitality into China’s economic takeoff, it also manifested dependency characteristics in core technology, brand value, and rule-making power. The internal demand market had not yet been fully tapped or linked, which created the necessary conditions for accelerating the formation and construction of the New Era development pattern.
After joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), China’s opening up entered a broader and deeper stage of institutionalization, shifting from passive integration toward active adaptation and the partial shaping of rules. On one hand, our country fully fulfilled its WTO commitments, significantly reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers, optimized the business environment, and attracted higher-level foreign investment and technology-intensive industries. China gradually leaped to become the "world's factory," deeply integrating into global production networks. Export trade became the primary engine of China’s economic growth, and an important development orientation emerged where imports served the needs of exports. On the other hand, the "Going Global" [5] strategy became an important supplement, encouraging capable enterprises to engage in overseas investment and project contracting. The launch of the pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Shanghai marked the beginning of our country’s exploration of institutional opening up. The goal of opening up during this stage was to elevate our position in global value chains, expand development space, and enhance international competitiveness. However, the fragility of a growth model excessively dependent on external demand was exposed during the 2008 international financial crisis. The potential of the domestic demand market had not been effectively converted into a stable support for economic growth, necessitating the formation of a new development model with stronger endogenous momentum.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, our country’s factor endowments have continually changed, the demographic dividend [6] has weakened, and rising costs of production factors have led to a gradual attenuation of the cost advantage in exports. The export-oriented economic development model urgently required accelerated adjustment. Facing a profound and complex international environment, the Party Central Committee proposed the construction of a "new development pattern with the domestic macro-circulation as the mainstay and the domestic and international dual circulations promoting each other." This involved implementing a more proactive opening-up strategy, insisting on the equal importance of imports and exports, shifting from a focus on quantitative expansion to qualitative improvement, and pursuing institutional opening up centered on rules, regulations, management, and standards. At this stage, opening up focuses on actively serving the construction of the new development pattern and high-quality development. On one hand, through high-level opening up, we introduce advanced productive forces, optimize resource allocation, and stimulate innovative vitality. This promotes domestic industrial upgrading and scientific and technological self-reliance, enhances the efficiency and competitiveness of the internal circulation, and smooths the domestic macro-circulation. On the other hand, by advancing institutional opening up and deeply aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, we enhance the resilience and control of the international circulation, creating a fairer and more favorable international competitive environment for Chinese enterprises and actively empowering the international circulation.
2. High-level opening up drives innovative breakthroughs in the new development pattern
The essence of the new development pattern lies in restructuring the power system and operational mode of economic growth. Under this strategic framework, high-level opening up is not a simple repetition of previous factor introduction or market liberalization; rather, it is endowed with the core function of driving structural upgrading and institutional innovation. Regarding economic scale and scope, high-level opening up breaks down the segmentation between domestic and international markets and strengthens the scale effect of the economic circulation. Market scale is key to exerting the effect of increasing returns to scale. By promoting the mutual reinforcement of domestic and international dual circulations, high-level opening up releases the potential of the domestic ultra-large-scale market while enabling enterprises to optimize their layout in the broader international market, reducing unit production costs and pushing out the production boundary. By introducing advanced international products, services, and market entities, domestic market competition and learning-based innovation are intensified. This process of "creative destruction" forces local enterprises to improve efficiency, accelerate technological catch-up and business model innovation, and drive supply-side structural reform, ultimately increasing the total factor productivity of the internal circulation system.
In terms of factor agglomeration and knowledge spillovers, high-level opening up helps drive the advancement of the industrial foundation, making it possible for enterprises to optimize resource allocation on a global scale. By reducing the institutional transaction costs of cross-border factor flows, it attracts global high-end capital, frontier technologies, top talent, and other innovative elements to aggregate domestically, embedding them directly into domestic industrial chains. On this basis, the domestic economic circulation relies on the massive domestic demand market to establish scale advantages and an innovation foundation; meanwhile, the international circulation utilizes global procurement, offshore outsourcing, and overseas layouts to obtain the most cost-effective and technologically advanced factor resources, forming a "China-centered" [7] global resource integration capability. In terms of institutional innovation and rule evolution, high-level opening up leads deep-level internal reform. As a core component of high-level opening up, institutional opening up actively benchmarks against high-standard international economic and trade rules at the level of institutional introduction. This drives institutional transformation in deep-seated domestic areas such as regulatory systems, property rights protection, and competition policy, constructing an institutional environment that meets the requirements of the new development pattern. At the level of institutional supply, it involves actively participating in the formulation of international rules, enhancing our country’s institutional discourse power [8] globally, and strengthening the stability and sustainability of the international circulation.
Regarding the modern economic system and the drivers of economic development, thanks to the promotion of the major strategy of the new development pattern, the goal of high-quality development is also profoundly reflected in the inherent requirements and practical processes of high-level opening up. Under conditions of high-level opening up, factors such as capital, technology, management, and talent flow more freely across borders and are optimized in their allocation. An open pattern characterized by interconnected markets and compatible rules clears the bottlenecks between the domestic economic circulation and the international circulation, allowing the modern economic system to draw development energy from a wider range, broader fields, and higher levels. Simultaneously, high-level opening up injects "living water" [9] into the conversion of old economic growth drivers into new ones. An open innovation environment accelerates the international spillover effects of knowledge and the efficiency of technological iteration, allowing domestic innovation entities to fully learn from and absorb the achievements of human scientific and technological civilization. This enables them to realize original innovation and breakthroughs in key core technologies from a higher starting point, providing solid scientific and technological support for the transition of growth drivers. Therefore, high-level opening up is the key hub connecting the large domestic market with international resources. By releasing internal demand potential, improving supply quality, and smoothing internal-external links, it forms a higher-level, more efficient, and more sustainable dynamic circulation system, ultimately achieving a fundamental shift in development momentum from exogenous dependence to internal-external collaborative driving.
3. High-level opening up expands the space for action within the new development pattern
As an important support for constructing the new development pattern, the efficacy of high-level opening up permeates the entire chain of economic activity. By releasing a series of practical effects—deeply integrating into the global system, improving domestic circulation efficiency, and activating potential growth space—it has become a key engine for expanding the scope of the new development pattern. From the dimension of institutional rule alignment, high-level opening up actively benchmarks against high-standard international economic and trade rules, breaks down institutional barriers, and creates institutional mechanisms that efficiently connect global factor resources, providing high-efficiency institutional interfaces and circulation pipelines for the operation of the new development pattern. Pilot Free Trade Zones and Free Trade Ports lead institutional innovation, creating "experimental fields" [10] where international high-standard rules and domestic institutional environments adapt to one another, with spillover effects radiating across the country. By the end of 2024, our country had established 22 pilot FTZs, deployed a cumulative total of over 3,400 reform pilot tasks, and replicated and promoted over 300 institutional innovation achievements nationwide, accumulating valuable experience for the efficient integration of the domestic market with international rules.
The practice of merging multilateral rules within high-standard free trade agreement networks provides a more stable, transparent, and predictable rule environment for Chinese enterprises to deeply embed themselves in, or even lead, regional industrial and supply chain networks. By the end of 2024, our country had become the primary trading partner for more than 150 countries and regions, signed 23 free trade agreements with 30 countries and sectors, and reached the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest economic scale agreement. From the dimension of value chain positioning, high-level opening up promotes global collaboration in innovation factors and the global layout of new quality productive forces, forming an R&D collaboration network based on the domestic market and extended by international innovation resources. Especially in recent years, the proportion of our country’s high-tech product imports and exports has continued to rise. The multi-dimensional output of technology, capital, and production capacity has transformed our country from a recipient of production capacity into a leader of the New Industrial Revolution, restructuring the global industrial landscape in tracks such as digital manufacturing and new energy. The continuous shortening of the negative list for foreign investment access, particularly the deep opening of key fields such as high-end manufacturing, modern services, and biomedicine, has attracted top global enterprises to land advanced productive forces and R&D centers in China, constructing a broader and more resilient global resource allocation space and diverse market hinterland for China’s economic growth.
From the dimension of market demand, high-level opening up implies the deepening expansion of foreign trade development space across a wider range, broader fields, and deeper levels. In 2024, our country’s actual use of foreign direct investment (FDI) was 826.25 billion yuan, of which high-tech manufacturing accounted for 96.29 billion yuan, or 11.7% of the total; outward direct investment (ODI) was 1.15927 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%. The global ranking of our ODI scale rose from 26th in 2002 to 3rd in 2012, and has ranked among the top three in the world for global ODI flows for 12 consecutive years, covering 18 major categories of the national economy. The value of new contracts for overseas contracted projects was 1.90363 trillion yuan, an increase of 71% compared to 2012, effectively driving the "going out" of our country’s products, technology, and services and deepening international production capacity cooperation. Therefore, high-level opening up has become a core strategic fulcrum and a powerful source of momentum for expanding the space of the new development pattern.
4. High-level opening up opens broad prospects for the new development pattern
High-level opening up insists on the equal importance of exports and imports, coordinates the use of foreign capital and outward investment, and continuously expands and links the domestic and international markets. On the basis of high-quality "bringing in" and high-level "going global," it forms a high-level global resource allocation capability, focusing on constructing and strengthening a virtuous cycle in the three key areas of market connectivity, industrial integration, and rule alignment, thereby opening broad prospects for the new development pattern. Regarding markets, by continuously lowering trade and investment thresholds, it promotes the freer cross-border flow of goods, services, capital, and technology, effectively connecting two markets and two types of resources. The huge potential of the domestic market and the broad space of the international market promote each other, attracting more high-quality factors and forming a dynamic balance where demand pulls supply and supply creates demand. Regarding industry, by deepening international industrial division of labor and cooperation, it pushes for a deeper and higher-level optimization of the layout and resilience-building of industrial and supply chains on a global scale. Domestic industries utilize international high-end resources to achieve transformation and upgrading, while high-quality international industries can deeply cultivate the Chinese market to achieve common development. Regarding rules, high-level opening up drives our country to more proactively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, helping institutional opening up take greater strides. By actively participating in and leading the formulation of international rules, we promote the "soft connectivity" of rules, regulations, management, and standards. While effectively reducing institutional transaction costs, this actively shapes a fairer, more inclusive, and more convenient global economic governance environment, laying a solid foundation for the continuous release of the opening-up dividend. Therefore, the three aforementioned levels support and promote each other, jointly constituting a multi-dimensional practical path for high-level opening up, continuously shaping new momentum, expanding new space, and winning new advantages for the deep integration of China’s economy into the global economy.
III. Rationally facing the new trends and challenges of high-level opening up in promoting the new development pattern
Currently, the changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and international economy and trade face systemic, structural, and deep-seated changes. China’s promotion of the new development pattern through high-level opening up is driven by factors such as the continuous growth of the domestic economy, the accelerated digital and green transformation of the global industrial system, and the restructuring of a new round of international economic rules and governance systems. At the same time, it faces many practical challenges brought about by the prevalence of trade protectionism, the intensification of global geopolitical competition, and the resulting profound adjustment of global industrial and supply chains. Therefore, China’s opening-up strategy must forge ahead in a global environment where opportunities and challenges coexist and momentum and pressure are intertwined, striving to open new ground amid changes and create new space for the construction of the new development pattern.
1. Fully recognizing the new trends facing the acceleration of the new development pattern in the process of opening up
First, the global industrial system is showing a trend of accelerated digital and green transformation.
With the rapid development of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, countries have adopted forward-looking plans and strategic layouts. Breakthroughs in frontier technologies are occurring across multiple sectors, and the global industrial system is accelerating its transition toward digitalization and greening. Digital technologies centered on artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are penetrating every link of the industrial chain—including R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain management—with unprecedented breadth. These technologies efficiently match supply and demand within industrial chains, enhance core competitiveness, and drive the global industrial system toward intelligent and networked development. Simultaneously, in the face of increasingly severe global environmental challenges, sustainable development has become an international consensus. Countries have stepped up their carbon reduction commitments and policies, causing the green and low-carbon transition to gradually become a core strategy for industrial development. Clean energy technology, green manufacturing, and the circular economy have become new focal points of global industrial competition. Digital empowerment enhances efficiency, precision, and innovation potential, while green constraints will reshape resource costs, technical thresholds, and market rules. Together, these two forces are accelerating the reconstruction of global industrial and supply chains, profoundly influencing the future direction of economic development and the global competitive landscape. This compels China's industrial chains to leapfrog toward high-end, intelligent, and green development to avoid being "locked-in" at the low end of global value chains. It drives enterprises to increase R&D investment, improve product quality and added value, and thereby enhance the adaptability of the domestic supply system to vast domestic demand. This consolidates the foundation of the domestic cycle while fostering globally competitive industrial clusters and high-quality enterprises in fields such as new energy and the digital economy to actively embed themselves in the global industrial chain system.
Second, international economic rules and the governance system have entered a new round of reform and reconstruction. As economic globalization undergoes profound adjustments and multipolarity accelerates, the focus of contestation over rules in the field of international economy and trade is shifting significantly. International economic rules and the governance system are entering a channel of historic transformation and reconstruction. On one hand, the rise of emerging powers has led to a surge in demands for a voice [11] in rule-making, and the traditional multilateral trading system—centered on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and emphasizing universal principles and consensus—faces severe challenges. On the other hand, the wave of regional economic integration is advancing rapidly, becoming an important incubator for rule innovation. The focus of competition over rules has expanded from tariff reductions in trade in goods to the deep opening of trade in services, cross-border data flows, high-standard intellectual property protection, and requirements for supply chain resilience. Sustainable development issues such as environmental and labor standards, the "competitive neutrality" of state-owned enterprises, and the modernization of rules of origin are increasingly being incorporated into the framework of economic and trade agreements. This is both a result of the evolution of national economic strengths and a reflection of the economic governance dilemmas brought about by the technological revolution and global challenges. It is primarily manifested in a rebalancing of the power to set rules and discourse systems, shifting from a Western-dominated singular system to a more pluralistic, inclusive, and even competitive system of rules. This compels all countries, especially emerging economies, to re-examine their strategies for participating in economic globalization, shifting from passive observers to active shapers. For China, active participation and deep integration into this wave of rule reconstruction is an inevitable requirement for achieving high-level opening up and constructing the New Era development pattern. By proactively shaping and leading rules, China expects to continue enhancing its status and competitiveness in the global economic and trade landscape, winning broader development space and more significant institutional discourse power in the reshaping of global rules.
Third, China has become an important promoter of economic globalization and a defender of the international order. Faced with the profound changes [12] of the shifting historic landscape, characterized by the impact of anti-globalization trends and intensified geopolitical competition, the momentum of world economic development and the governance system are facing a profound reshaping. With a firm stance of opening up and the responsibility of a major country, China has gradually ascended to become a key driving force in the process of economic globalization and an important cornerstone for the stable transformation of the international order. In terms of stabilizing the operation of global industrial chains, China possesses a vast market scale, a complete and comprehensive industrial system, and robust supporting capabilities for industrial chains. This not only provides vital support for the stable operation of global industrial chains but also promotes the optimized allocation of global industrial resources. China has become a solid and reliable component of the global division of labor and is gradually becoming a key node in global industrial chains, playing an important role in connecting East and West and balancing the North-South gap. In terms of maintaining the international order, China advocates maintaining the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law. It emphasizes that multilateralism is the correct path for global governance. Through practical measures such as the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" Initiative, promoting the entry into force and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), actively applying to join high-standard economic and trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), and continuously hosting national-level opening platforms such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), and the China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE), China actively participates in and leads regional economic cooperation. It firmly practices its commitment to opening up and provides the world with an increasingly broad market space and development opportunities. In terms of building a community with a shared future for humanity, China is committed to providing more international public goods and striving to promote an economic globalization process that is more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial for all, demonstrating the responsibility and commitment of a major power.
- Rationally understanding the new challenges faced in accelerating the construction of the new development pattern during the process of opening up.
First, the rise of protectionism in the Western world has intensified technological containment, and global geopolitical competition has highlighted uncertainties in trade and investment. With the deep evolution of strategic competition between major powers and the accelerated adjustment of the international power structure, Western countries have significantly strengthened competition strategies oriented toward national security. They are accelerating the construction of exclusionary barriers in core technological fields to vie for economic dominance and the power to set rules. On one hand, to maintain their technological hegemonic advantage and control the "commanding heights" of the industrial chain, developed countries have adopted restrictive policies and export controls—layer upon layer—on key technologies such as precision semiconductors, critical AI algorithms, and advanced manufacturing equipment. They have constructed "small yards with high fences" [13] around core technologies to prevent the spillover of key technologies, attempting to suppress the momentum of potential competitors' technological progress and use technological blockades to strangle the path of other countries' industries as they climb toward the upper reaches of global value chains. On the other hand, global geopolitical competition is becoming increasingly prominent. Western countries are using adversarial means centered on unilateral sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction, and industrial subsidies to act upon strategic fields such as high technology, critical energy, and infrastructure with unprecedented intensity. By setting up market access barriers, distorting the fair competition environment, and implementing measures like "decoupling and breaking chains," they deliberately create trade frictions and investment obstacles. The forcibly torn R&D ecosystems and international cooperation chains have weakened the overall momentum of global technological progress. Enterprises are forced to establish production capacity or seek alternative supply chains under different standard systems, significantly driving up R&D and manufacturing costs and exacerbating the sluggishness and uncertainty of the global economy. Western protectionism and geopolitical competition have seriously eroded the foundation of trust in the free trade system and cross-border capital flows, creating complex and severe external challenges for China and placing higher demands on China's opening up.
Second, global industrial and supply chains are showing trends toward regionalization, localization, and shortening, with the dilemma of "passive decoupling" and "broken chains" becoming prominent. In recent years, industrial security has gradually risen to become an important consideration for national development. A small number of countries have pursued "decoupling and breaking chains" (tuōgōu duànliàn). Supply chain reconstruction strategies—represented by "near-shoring," "friend-shoring," and the reshoring of strategic industries—are reshaping the global production layout at an unprecedented speed. Global industrial chains are gradually shifting from a globally dispersed layout to regional concentration. Building local critical production capacity, supporting local suppliers, and reducing reliance on a single foreign source have become the strategic focus of major European and American economies. This is especially true in fields such as semiconductors, advanced materials, and strategic resources, which have become the focus of industrial policy and investment competition. Countries are encouraging enterprises to establish complete industrial chains domestically through administrative legislation and government subsidies to enhance the "independent controllability" of key links in the industrial chain. The shift of global industrial and supply chains from "efficiency first" to "security first" is profoundly impacting the original global division of labor and the international economic structure. Under these multiple shifts, China's construction of the new development pattern faces a situation where opportunities and challenges are intertwined, and momentum and pressure coexist. On one hand, the risk management systems of domestic market entities face reconstruction, and the resilience and risk-resistance of industrial and supply chains face severe tests. On the other hand, China will give full play to its comprehensive advantages—such as its complete range of manufacturing categories and well-developed infrastructure—to build supply chain nodes in important regions, adapting to the dual-circulation system of regionalization and globalization with a more proactive stance.
Third, the global digital divide faces multi-dimensional challenges, and digital governance faces new difficulties. As the iteration of digital technology accelerates at an unprecedented pace and the depth of its application continues to expand, and as the technological resource endowments and infrastructure investments of countries remain unbalanced, the global digitalization process is showing a trend of divergence. Frontier technologies represented by AI, cloud computing, and next-generation communication networks are reshaping the operational logic of economy and society at an unprecedented speed. However, R&D capabilities, core algorithms, and key hardware resources are highly concentrated in a few developed economies. The vast number of developing countries are falling into a state of systemic lag in technology acquisition, cost endurance, and application capability, facing the risk of digital marginalization. At the same time, new governance issues such as cross-border data flows, algorithm transparency, platform monopoly regulation, and AI ethics and security have become the focus of global controversy. Countries have huge differences in their positions on key rules such as data sovereignty, privacy protection, technical standards, and security boundaries, and coordination mechanisms are inadequate. This has led to a global digital governance system that is seriously fragmented and lacking in rules. The widening digital divide seriously restricts the ability of late-developing countries to use digital dividends to promote economic development, exacerbating global development imbalances. Meanwhile, the lack of governance rules triggers market disorder, rising security risks, and obstacles to transnational collaboration, hindering the vision of an open, inclusive, beneficial, secure, and sustainable globalized digital future. The polarized pattern of global digital development compels China, in the process of promoting the construction of the New Era development pattern through high-level opening up, to bridge its own digital divide while actively responding to increasingly complex digital governance challenges.
IV. Unswervingly expanding high-level opening up to actively serve the construction of the New Era development pattern
Currently, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a New Era. Constructing the new development pattern, initiating high-level opening up, and actively sketching a grand blueprint for the integrated development of China and the world is both a strategic response to the profound adjustments in the external environment and a driving force for gathering global high-end factors, forcing deep-level domestic reforms, and clearing the core obstructions in the national economic cycle. On the New Journey, only by accelerating the expansion of domestic demand alongside foreign trade and investment, and by comprehensively arranging institutional opening up and regional coordinated opening, can we realize the efficient linkage and integrated promotion of domestic and international markets and resources. This will inject lasting momentum into the accelerated formation of the new development pattern and the achievement of higher-level, higher-quality dual circulation.
- Taking the all-around expansion of domestic demand as the linked support for high-level opening up, and continuously promoting the mutual reinforcement of domestic and international dual circulation. China possesses an ultra-large-scale domestic demand market. The all-around expansion of domestic demand is both a basic requirement for the domestic cycle and a core lever for accelerating the construction of the new development pattern. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out...
“It is necessary to establish effective systems for expanding domestic demand based on the actual conditions of our country's economic development, release the potential of domestic demand, accelerate the cultivation of a complete domestic demand system, strengthen demand-side management, expand resident consumption, and upgrade consumption levels, so that the construction of a super-large-scale domestic market becomes a sustainable historical process.” This requires shaping the all-around expansion of domestic demand into a linked support for high-level opening up. Through the systemic expansion and quality improvement of domestic demand, we can achieve benign mutual reinforcement and deep synergy between domestic and international dual circulation.
First, we must tap into the potential of domestic demand through the twin engines of consumption and investment. On the consumption side, measures such as optimizing the income distribution structure, improving the social security system, smoothing the urban-rural circulation system, and expanding the middle-income group should be taken to continuously improve residents' consumption capacity and willingness. We must eliminate the bottlenecks and pain points [14] that restrict consumption, expand new types of consumption scenarios, and deeply release multi-level, high-quality consumption potential. On the investment side, we must continuously optimize the business environment and expand the space for effective investment, particularly by increasing input in key areas that shore up weak links, strengthen foundations, and promote innovation—such as technological innovation, green transition, modern services, and new infrastructure. Effective investment should be used to pull the upgrading of industrial structures, promote the mutual traction and coordinated advancement of consumption and investment, and solidify the fundamental base of domestic demand.
Second, we must promote supply-side structural reform to enhance quality and efficiency, accurately matching and leading the upgrading of demand. This effectively promotes the seamless connection between industrial upgrading, product iteration, and the optimization of the domestic demand structure, achieving a higher-level smooth circulation of supply and demand and a high-level dynamic equilibrium between them.
Third, we must strengthen the synergistic efficacy of macroeconomic policies. We must effectively promote high coordination and "resonance at the same frequency" [15] among various policies—including fiscal, monetary, industrial, regional, employment, and technological policies. This will enhance the consistency of policy orientation, clear the transmission mechanisms from policy issuance to the benefit of micro-entities, and avoid the "composition fallacy" or "division fallacy" of policies, ensuring that various measures to expand domestic demand are accurately implemented and form a collective force.
Fourth, we must solidify the foundation of domestic demand with a "bottom-line" guarantee for people's livelihoods. We must continuously improve the social security system, increase the quality supply of public services, and focus on stabilizing employment, increasing income, and optimizing distribution. We must earnestly resolve the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" problems [16] of the masses, enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness, security, and "consumer confidence" [17], thereby fully releasing the super-large-scale and lasting potential of domestic demand. All-around expansion of domestic demand is not "closing the door to the world" [18]; rather, through a benign cycle where consumption and investment stimulate each other, supply and demand are efficiently matched, and economic development is closely integrated with the improvement of livelihoods, we embed powerful domestic demand momentum within the open economic system. This allows the "stability" of the domestic circulation and the "vitality" of the international circulation to complement each other, forming a development pattern where domestic demand and opening up, as well as internal and external circulations, provide positive feedback and synergistic force. This will continuously empower the Chinese economy to "cleave through the wind and waves" [19] and move forward steadily amidst turbulent storms.
2. Taking the active stabilization of foreign trade and foreign investment as a powerful engine for high-level opening up, and continuously polishing the "Invest in China" gold-standard brand.
Currently, China has become the world's largest trading nation. Foreign trade has always been a powerful engine driving China's economic growth. Foreign investment, as one of the important driving forces of high-level opening up, plays an indispensable role in promoting technological exchange, optimizing resource allocation, and bridging the internal and external dual circulations. Therefore, stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment is of great significance.
First, we must accelerate the reform for the integration of domestic and foreign trade. We should create synergy between trade policies and fiscal, taxation, financial, and industrial policies, and formulate laws, regulations, and rules conducive to the unification of domestic and foreign trade, as well as domestic and foreign investment, promoting the dual circulation by exploring modes of integrated development. We must diversely promote the digital and green transformation of foreign trade, vigorously develop new models and business forms of foreign trade, and fully tap the growth potential of digital trade. We should innovatively upgrade trade in services, fully implement the negative list for cross-border trade in services, and orderly promote the expansion of opening up in fields such as telecommunications, the Internet, education, culture, and medical care, while expanding cross-border data flows. We must steadily increase the proportion of developing countries, emerging markets, and free trade partners in foreign trade, and enhance the scale and level of trade with neighboring countries.
Second, we must focus on promoting the integrated development of industry and trade, using "industrial chain thinking" to enhance the competitiveness of import and export trade. Based on the domestic industrial chain, we should extend toward the international medium-to-high-end industrial chains, strengthening the connection and interaction between domestic and foreign industrial chains to form an industrial chain layout that considers both internal and external factors. We should participate deeply in the international division of labor and cooperation, accelerate the cultivation of advanced manufacturing clusters with global competitiveness, and extend and expand the domestic segments of global value chains through advanced manufacturing and modern service industries.
Third, we must continuously improve the legal system for foreign investment and accelerate the construction of a national unified large market. This will create a more stable, fair, and transparent business environment for foreign-invested enterprises, effectively implement national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises, and enhance the confidence of foreign enterprises in investing in China. We must grasp the opportunities presented by the adjustment of global industrial structures and layouts, stabilize the fundamental base of foreign investment, and increase the attractiveness to foreign capital in high-end manufacturing. We should actively guide foreign investment toward digital technology, green and low-carbon sectors, emerging industries, and modern services, enhancing the degree of integration between foreign investment and the domestic economic circulation.
Fourth, we must deepen the reform of the systems and mechanisms for foreign investment. On one hand, we must provide high-level institutional guarantees covering investment liberalization, investment protection, investment facilitation, and dispute resolution. On the other hand, we must innovate the systems and mechanisms for promoting foreign investment, building an institutional support system for the entire life cycle of foreign businesses in China. This two-pronged approach aims to stabilize the existing stock and expand the incremental flow of foreign investment, allowing global capital to take deeper root and achieve more substantial benefits in the Chinese market. This will transform external pressure into endogenous motivation, solidifying the foundation of an open economy for building the New Development Paradigm.
3. Taking the steady expansion of institutional opening up as an important component of high-level opening up, and actively leading the formulation and reconstruction of international economic rules.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to steadily expand institutional opening up and continuously expand the space for international cooperation. Institutional opening up aims to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules. Through the introduction of international systems and the construction of domestic institutional innovations, it seeks to further form a standardized and transparent institutional system that interfaces with high-standard international rules. At the same time, it aims to strengthen high-quality institutional supply capacity, form competitive institutional advantages, and actively participate in and lead the formulation and reconstruction of international economic rules.
First, we must actively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules to accelerate institutional innovation. We should achieve compatibility and interoperability of rules, regulations, management, and standards in areas such as property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, and finance. We should identify key tasks for institutional opening up in different fields, strengthen coordination and cooperation among them, and create a transparent, stable, and predictable institutional environment.
Second, we must implement the strategy to upgrade pilot free trade zones (FTZs). We should give full play to the role of pilot FTZs and free trade ports (FTPs) in "pioneering and trial implementation" [20] and taking the lead, increasing the intensity of institutional innovation and conducting "stress tests" for institutional opening up. We must correctly handle the relationship between the trial implementation of innovative policies and their comprehensive promotion, ensuring that institutional innovations are implemented and achieve positive benefits based on a comprehensive performance assessment.
Third, we must align with the core standards and advanced practices of global business environment evaluation systems. From a higher vantage point and with more practical measures, we should accelerate the construction of a high-standard market economy system. We should focus on creating a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, laying the institutional foundation for deep integration into international competition and cooperation and for accelerating the construction of the New Development Paradigm.
Fourth, we must firmly practice multilateralism, deepen cooperation under existing high-standard free trade agreements (FTAs), and promote the mutual recognition and implementation of rules to fully release the "agreement dividends." We must accelerate the negotiation process of high-level regional FTAs and strive for breakthrough progress on rule-based issues. We should actively promote FTA negotiations and upgrades with major developed economies, emerging markets, and developing countries. We should proactively seek to sign FTAs covering a new generation of high-standard economic and trade rules with more economies that have market potential and similar or complementary rule concepts. This will help weave a tight and strong "circle of friends" [21] for China's high-standard free trade, expanding the global network of high-standard FTAs.
4. Taking the optimization of the regional linked opening-up layout as a strategic support for high-level opening up, and accelerating the formation of a new pattern of comprehensive internal and external opening up.
At present, China has formed an opening-up pattern that is all-dimensional, wide-ranging, and multi-layered. However, there remains an imbalance in the degree of opening up among different regions, which to some extent constrains the formation of the New Development Paradigm. Therefore, optimizing the regional linked opening-up layout to support the strategy of high-level opening up has become an urgent and major task.
First, we must continuously consolidate and deepen the core position of the eastern coastal areas as the frontline and pioneering force of opening up. The eastern coastal areas possess a solid industrial foundation, rich experience in foreign trade and investment, and a business environment highly aligned with international rules. They are the core regions for China's deep integration into the global economy. Through the construction of pilot FTZs and trade facilitation measures, they should continue to lead in innovative opening-up models and international cooperation levels.
Second, we must implement targeted policies to promote opening up in the central, western, and northeastern regions based on the industrial division of labor, their own comparative advantages, resource endowments, and geographical characteristics. We should explore opening-up paths that suit their actual conditions. The central and western regions can rely on their vast hinterland resources and unique industrial endowments to focus on building inland "opening-up highlands" [22] and hub cities. The northeastern region should focus on the strategic context of revitalizing old industrial bases, focusing on advantageous industries and opening-up platforms, and accelerating the construction of a three-dimensional opening-up system that possesses both breadth and depth, covering both the inland and the coast.
Third, we must place the construction of zones with special functions in a key position. We must fully support the construction and development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, giving full play to its liberalized and facilitated policies in trade in goods, trade in services, investment, cross-border capital flows, entry and exit of personnel, and transportation. We should build it into a strategic pivot—a "bright banner" [23] and an important gateway to the world—in terms of trade and investment systems, operating models, and regulatory frameworks. We should coordinately promote the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as an opening-up highland. Leveraging its unique geographical advantage connecting internal and external markets, its deep international foundation, and its highly market-oriented operating mechanisms, we should strive to build it into a high-level, diverse opening-up highland integrating international finance, technological innovation, high-end manufacturing, and professional services.
Fourth, we must expand the space for opening up and cooperation externally. We should coordinate multilateral and bilateral cooperation, improve trade and investment cooperation mechanisms for existing important international cooperation platforms, and effectively utilize the G20 platform to promote global macroeconomic policy coordination and structural reform. We should enhance the pragmatic efficacy of the BRICS cooperation mechanism, promote the process of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation under the APEC framework, and jointly build an open, inclusive, universally beneficial, and balanced regional economic cooperation architecture.
5. Taking the promotion of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as a bridge and bond for high-level opening up, and continuously optimizing the international cooperation layout of industrial and supply chains.
Jointly building the...
The “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) is the vital anchor for our country’s participation in the international cycle and serves as the bridge and link for high-level opening up to the outside world. Over many years, it has undergone an important transformation from the “da xieyi” [24] stage to the “gongbi hua” [25] stage of development, becoming an open, inclusive, and win-win international public good and cooperation platform. We must give full play to the significant advantages of the BRI platform in promoting economic growth, unimpeded trade, and industrial cooperation. This requires the continuous improvement of open cooperation mechanisms and multidimensional connectivity networks among participating countries, as well as the rational optimization of the international layout of industrial and supply chain cooperation.
First, further efforts must be made regarding the “hard connectivity” of infrastructure and the “soft connectivity” of rules and standards to promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment among participating countries, clearing obstacles for the efficient cross-border flow of industrial factors. Regarding “hard connectivity,” we must accelerate the construction of modern sea and land ports, deepen cooperation with countries along the route in frontier fields such as high-end manufacturing, the digital economy, and green production capacity, and coordinate the promotion of both major landmark projects and “small yet beautiful” [26] livelihood projects. Regarding “soft connectivity,” we should explore implementation scenarios for connectivity among participating countries in areas such as technical standards setting, trade and investment facilitation, and government procurement. We must continuously improve the comprehensive overseas service system by building overseas information-sharing platforms, establishing internationalized talent pools, and enhancing cross-border financial service levels.
Second, we must continuously improve multilateral cooperation rules and mechanisms for participating countries. Centering closely on the differentiated demands and development visions of various nations, we should establish and optimize a series of high-level open cooperation platforms that are broadly inclusive, attractive, and aligned with the interests of all countries through the deepening of bilateral and multilateral consultation mechanisms, thereby steadily expanding the scope of exchange and cooperation. We should continue to expand into potential incremental cooperation regions and accelerate the process of regional integration, consolidating the multilateral cooperation foundation of the new development pattern through high-level opening up to the outside world.
Third, we must focus on the resilience and security levels of industrial and supply chains, providing forward-looking guidance for the optimization of international layouts. On one hand, we should encourage advantaged enterprises to rely on the BRI to deepen the synergy of the "three chains"—the industrial chain, supply chain, and value chain. They should integrate regional resource endowments and co-build high-level cooperation zones or manufacturing bases at key nodes along the route to enhance localized supporting capabilities and the collaborative efficiency of participating countries. On the other hand, we must attach importance to and vigorously promote the interconnectivity and precise alignment of technical standards among member states. This involves deepening capacity cooperation based on complementary industrial chain advantages and reducing low-level, homogenous, and redundant construction to jointly build a more efficient and resilient regional and even global production network. Simultaneously, we must strengthen risk-sharing mechanisms and multidimensional risk-management capabilities to ensure the robustness and sustainability of the international cooperation layout.