The 2024 Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2024 identified expanding high-standard opening-up while keeping foreign trade and foreign investment stable as a key task in 2025. Why is opening-up a distinct feature of Chinese modernization? What kind of opening-up and cooperation do we need?
"The evolving history of the international landscape over the centuries shows that every country that has successfully modernized has adopted an open development strategy," said Long Guoqiang, vice president of the Development Research Centre of the State Council, while hosting "Stories of High-Quality Development", a People's Daily's video series. Opening-up is a proactive choice made by the Communist Party of China, and practice has proven that reform and opening-up is a crucial move for China to quickly catch up with the times, he explained.
Long said that entering the new era, China has implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, building a global network of high-standard free trade areas. It has accelerated the construction of pilot free trade zones (FTZs) and the Hainan Free Trade Port. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a popular international public good and a platform for international cooperation, forming a broader, deeper, and more comprehensive framework of opening-up.
As the Spring Festival approaches, at the Yangpu International Container Terminal in south China's Hainan Province, cargo ships are busy loading and unloading, and vehicles are shuttling back and forth. Since 2018, the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port has taken shape, attracting more and more companies to invest and start businesses. Whether it's local Hainan residents or outsiders who have been attracted by the construction of the Free Trade Port, all have felt the strong pulse of the Free Trade Port with Chinese characteristics.
" The Hainan FTP is like a magnet attracting global talent and enabling foreigners like us to enjoy an ideal living, working, and studying environment here, " said Lin Guangming, chief planner for the Yangpu Economic Development Zone Management Committee in Hainan.
What does high-level opening-up mean?
"High-level opening-up is comprehensive opening-up, institutional opening-up, and an opening-up that balances development and security," Long said. In terms of scope and coverage, high-level opening-up not only targets developed economies, but also developing economies; it includes both coastal areas and border and inland areas. From the perspective of institutional guarantees, China actively aligns with high-standard international economic and trade rules, creates a first-class business environment which is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, and attracts high-end production factors to converge at an accelerated pace.
"Opening-up promotes development, while isolation inevitably leads to backwardness and, ultimately, insecurity. However, if the strategies, steps, and pace of opening-up are not properly managed, it could result in 'suffering the costs before reaping the benefits,'" Long explained. Therefore, China needs to coordinate development and security while advancing opening-up, and continuously enhance its risk management capabilities, so as to support opening-up through effective and proper risk management.
What relationships should be properly handled to advancing high-level opening-up?
According to Long, first of all, China should properly handle the relationship between China and the world while advancing high-level opening-up, fostering mutual benefit and win-win results. Secondly, China needs to effectively manage the relationship between different regions in promoting high-level opening-up, constantly improving the opening-up paradigm.
Third, it is imperative to properly handle the relationship between Chinese enterprises and foreign-invested ones, fostering equal competition and win-win cooperation between them.
China's development cannot be separated from the world, and the world's development also needs China. Today, Peru's Chancay Port has become the first smart and green port in South America, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has brought Indonesia into the "high-speed railway era", and the China-Laos Railway has made Laos' "railway dream" come true.
Over the past 40 plus years, China's opening-up has progressed from coastal areas to areas along rivers, border areas and inland regions, forming a model of all-round, multi-level, and wide-ranging opening-up.
The busy scenes at ports reflect China's openness and cooperation. The Guoyuan Port in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality is located at the junction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The golden waterway of the Yangtze River, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the China-Europe freight train service all converge at the port. To the east, it can reach port cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, serving the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. To the west, it connects Central Asia and Europe, boosting the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and serving the development of the western region. To the south, it reaches ASEAN countries and South Asia. To the north, it connects the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.
High-level opening up also provides development opportunities for foreign-invested enterprises. In 1964, Toyota Crown entered the Chinese market for the first time at the Canton Fair, and Toyota has since forged an indissoluble bond with China.
Liu Peng, vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said that over the past 60 years, the development of China's automobile industry and the wave of reform and opening up have provided fertile ground for Toyota's development. Toyota has exported advanced technology and production management experience to China, and has built a full industrial chain system to support the development of its business by cultivating talents, setting up localized R&D centers, and building a parts supplier system. This shows Toyota's determination to take root in China and serves as a foundation for Toyota's long-term sustainable development in China.
Long said that China presents foreign investors with a highly favorable environment, as it possesses a comprehensive industrial system, efficient infrastructure, a vast domestic market, a well-educated labor force, and the application of new technologies.
"As China opens its doors wider to the world, whether through infrastructure development or institutional optimization, its stability has become a linchpin in the constantly evolving global development landscape. The Chinese economy is a vast ocean, not a small pond. Even when confronted with external challenges, China can maintain its resilience, embracing diverse influences with its vastness and openness. China serves as a powerful stabilizing and propelling force in the global economy, effectively fostering the recovery and growth of the world economy," Long said.
