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China to Further Open Up
China will commit to a more open economy and strengthen trade and technical co-operation with other nations upon its entry into the World Trade Organization, said Zhang Xiang, vice-minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation.
Addressing a plenary session of the Second Globalization Forum on Saturday, Zhang said China is reforming its relevant policies and measures to conform with international practices.
The country is also beefing up efforts to standardize its administrative management, he said.
"China will become an important market with great potential in the coming 10 years and will become an important area for foreign direct investment," he said.
Meanwhile, the country will actively participate in world economic development by increasing investment in foreign countries.
Xu Zhiming, president of the Hong Kong International Investment Association, said it is imperative that China participate in the globalization process if it wants to find its way into the mainstream world economy.
Globalization, plus the country's accession to the World Trade Organization, means China will be further integrated into the global trading system and more deeply involved in world economic development, he said.
Chinese enterprises will strengthen by learning advanced management techniques and by introducing leading-edge technologies, he said.
Zhang said economic globalization has sped up in the past 20 years, and international trade now plays an increasingly important role in world economic development.
International foreign trade has grown at an average annual rate of 7 per cent since the beginning of the 1990s, which is faster than the world's economic development of the same period.
During the 1990s, the capital flow also has accelerated, becoming the most dynamic factor of world economic development, Zhang said.
Foreign direct investment grew at an average annual rate of more than 30 per cent since 1996, with the investment amounting to US$1.1 trillion in 2000.
Multinational companies' merger activities have become a major characteristic of the foreign direct investment, Zhang said, adding that mergers involved US$720 billion in 1999.
"Multinational companies have played a leading role in economic globalization," he said.
Among the world's top 100 economic entities, 51 are multinational companies, not countries.
Output value by multinational companies now accounts for about 45 per cent of the world's total gross domestic product. These companies' foreign trade and foreign direct investment account for 60 to 90 per cent of the world's total.
"China's accession to the World Trade Organization and participation in economic globalization are required by the country's economic development," Zhang said.
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