The second China International Import Expo (CIIE) is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10. Many well-known global companies hold great expectations for the expo as China keeps its promise to build a high-quality import expo.

(Photo/Xinhua)

In May 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, announcing that the country would host the CIIE starting from 2018.

At the first CIIE held in Nov. 2018, Xi stressed that the CIIE, an event to be held on an annual basis, will feature good performance, good results and continued success in the years to come.

The first CIIE turned out to be really fruitful. On the basis of that, the second one this year has been even more thoughtfully arranged in various aspects such as the exhibition areas and supporting activities.

China shows its sincerity in pursuing a new round of high-level opening up. Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in Oct. 2017, President Xi has pledged that China will further open up at various multilateral occasions such as the Boao Forum for Asia.

The first CIIE was the world's first import-themed national-level expo, an innovation in the history of global trade as well as China’s major initiative to still widen market access to the rest of the world.

In fact, many countries and enterprises discovered the business opportunities to cooperate with China and felt the huge potential of the Chinese market on the first CIIE that they registered for the second one right after the success from the previous year.

Just a few days ago, French President Emmanuel Macron said over the phone to President Xi that France will actively support the second CIIE. Other countries and organizations, including the European Union (EU), spoke highly of the import expo and expected to promote cooperation through the platform.

China has taken the initiative to open its market to the world, and the world surely will not miss such opportunities.

China assumes its responsibility as a responsible major country. It has always supported the multilateral trading system, promoted free trade, advanced an open world economy and advocated economic globalization.

As Xi pointed out, economic globalization is an irreversible trend of history and has greatly boosted global growth. What mankind can do is to understand, adapt to, and apply the law of history instead of trying to prevent it from happening. The wheel of history, indeed, will keep rolling forward no matter what.

Based on such knowledge, China has resolutely opposed trade protectionism and encouraged foreign trade to achieve more balanced, inclusive, coordinated and sustainable development to share prosperity with trading partners and reach win-win results.

China believes in common good and development of all countries and hopes people from different countries could share the benefits of economic globalization and growth.

China is both confident and calm. Since 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the New China, the country would like to use the CIIE as an opportunity to enable various parties to see the new look of China in the new era, understand its tremendous development over the years and realize that China's all-round opening-up allows other countries to enjoy the benefits of its development.

 (The author is an expert on international issues.)