ThePaper.cn

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has further opened up and introduced a series of new measures for opening up. De-globalization and trade protectionism rose over the past years. How do you comment on the achievements China has made in the field of opening up over the past 10 years? Thank you. 

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. As Mr. Han just mentioned, the past 10 years were marked by solid progress in opening up. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have actively promoted opening up and achieved remarkable progress under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. 

First, our endeavor in opening up has achieved historic progress. In 2012, China registered $4.4 trillion in goods and services trade, ranking second in the world. In 2021, the figure rose to $6.9 trillion, ranking first for two consecutive years. China's two-way investment also ranked among the highest in the world, as the country attracted 1.15 trillion yuan in foreign investment last year, up 62.9% from 2012. Foreign investment in China has ranked second for four years in a row since 2017. China's outbound investment has ranked among the top three in the world. We have promoted high-quality economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Second, we have accelerated to advance institutional opening-up. In 2013, China released the first pilot free trade zone (FTZ) negative list for foreign investment. The number of restrictive measures on the list was reduced from 190 to 27 today. In 2016, following the trial operation in the pilot FTZ, the negative list was expanded nationwide. The number of restricted items decreased from 93 to 31 nowadays. In 2020, we implemented a foreign investment law and thus launched a new system to manage foreign investment. In 2021, we introduced the first negative list for cross-border trade in services in Hainan. In general, institutional opening-up has seen constant improvement.

Third, new ground has been broken in the construction of pilot FTZs and free trade port. Thanks to the planning, deployment and promotion by General Secretary Xi Jinping, the blueprints of building pilot FTZs and free trade port were turned into reality. Since 2013 when the first pilot FTZ was established in Shanghai, we have established 21 pilot FTZs so far, from which 278 advances in institutional innovation have been expanded nationwide. Covering less than 0.4% of China's total land area, the 21 pilot FTZs contributed 17.3% to national exports and imports and attracted 18.5% of China's total foreign investment. Since its initial construction in 2018, the Hainan Free Trade Port has released more than 120 achievements in institutional innovation.

Fourth, new breakthroughs have been made in strategies to improve China's involvement in FTZs. As Mr. Han mentioned, the number of China's free trade agreements almost doubled in the past decade, from 10 to 19. At the same time, the share of China's trade volume with free trade partners in the country's total trade volume increased from 17% to 35% in 2021. We all know that RCEP officially took effect this year, which means the world's most populous free trade zone with the largest economic and trade scale has been officially launched. Last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced that China would actively work to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which showed that China made new strides towards the goal of joining high-standard free trade agreements.

Fifth, we have made new contributions in participating in global governance. In 2014, President Xi Jinping presided over the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing and promoted the conclusion of the agreement among 21 members on the Beijing Roadmap for APEC's Contribution to the Realization of the FTAAP, which drew a blueprint for building a high-level FTZ in the Asia and Pacific Region. In 2016, President Xi Jinping presided over the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, and promoted the endorsement of the G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking, which laid a foundation for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to launch an investment facilitation initiative in 2017. We also actively participated in WTO reforms and firmly uphold the multilateral trade regime. 

On April 21, 2022, President Xi Jinping highlighted in the opening ceremony of Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2022 that no matter how the world would change, China's faith in and its commitment to reform and opening-up would not waver. According to the CPC Central Committee's decisions and arrangements, we will steadfastly expand high-level opening-up and push forward China's development in opening up. Thank you.