By KOU LIYAN
CHINA, to those who do not fully understand her, projects an introvert, conservative image. However, the more you learn about the country, the better you understand how the philosophy of opening-up has influenced the nation over the past four decades. The strategy of open development is a highlight of the 13th Five-year Plan. But people might wonder why the concept of opening-up, long a consensus in China, is being emphasized once more.
Advancing with the World
Since 2008, financial crises and geopolitical shocks have caused numbers of countries to readopt principles that tend towards exclusivity and self-protectiveness, and to forming alliances aimed at joint resistance. Major countries, including the U.S., Japan and certain European nations, are no longer willing to provide global public products. Instead, their behavior is that of groupuscules, whereby they exclude other parties from international cooperation. Should this tendency continue, retrogression in globalization and modernization achievements could well ensue. Worse still, it could plunge ties between countries into a perilous state of low mutual trust and tense confrontation. Under such circumstances, it is imperative that the world joins hands and opens up.
After nearly 40 years of reform and opening up, China is now deeply integrated into the world. In a sense, neither party can do without the other. Despite owning comparably complete industrial systems, a broad market, and a vast land, China cannot rely solely on "Made in China" to satisfy the demands of all facets of its people's lives. Depending entirely on self-sufficiency might even cause an economic downturn. On the other hand, the world would not be able to enjoy the benefits and convenience it does at present were it to forgo the products and services that China provides. Opening up, to both China and the world, is not simply a strategy, but a requirement. In the past, it might have been an optional strategy. But today, opening up is a necessity that must be continuously deepened and expanded.
The strategy of open development constitutes an upgraded opening-up. The relationship between China and the world is changing. In addition to earning foreign exchange through exports and inviting investment from foreign businesses, the opening-up strategy in China today is expected to facilitate development of an open economy at a higher level. It will feature coordinated domestic and overseas market demands, balanced imports and exports, and equal importance accorded to attracting foreign investment and encouraging domestic companies to go global. It will also place equal importance on attracting foreign capital, technologies, and talents.
Open development, the concept raised in the 13th Five-year Plan, goes beyond "opening the gate" to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, new perspectives will replace the traditional outdated and rigid judgments of different situations "within and outside the gate."
As the world's second largest economy, China connects closely and deeply with the world in all aspects. These days the concept of open development is best understood from the perspective of "integration." Win-win cooperation is much emphasized in China, as the country transforms its approach of "opening up and learning from the world" to "embracing open development and advancing along with the world." By developing itself in a more open way, China is expected to take a proactive part in global economic governance, in such fields as providing public products, bridging the gap between the power of institutional discourse in global economic governance and its realities, and establishing with other countries an extensive community of interest and of shared future for all humankind.
Initial Success
In the past year, China and the world in general have reaped an early harvest by virtue of the open development strategy.
In 2015, China stabilized its foreign trade, adjusted its system of export tax rebates and fees charged in the import and export process, streamlined administrative procedures to facilitate trade, and witnessed positive changes in its export structure. The country also halved the number of industries where foreign investment is restricted.
China's actual use of foreign capital reached US $126.3 billion, up 5.6 percent year-on-year, and its outbound non-financial investment hit US $118 billion, growing by 14.7 percent. What's more, three new free trade zones (FTZ) were built in Guangdong, Tianjin, and Fujian, based on the successful experience of Shanghai FTZ. Global cooperation on production capacity has accelerated, and breakthroughs made in globalizing the country's high-speed rail and nuclear power industries.
The same year, China contributed about 30 percent to global economic growth, having long given steady impetus to the stability and reform of global finance, and the RMB was included in the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was officially established, and China's Silk Road Foundation started operations.
Free trade agreements were signed between China and South Korea as well as between China and Australia, and China and ASEAN sealed a deal to upgrade their free trade area. The country has as well made substantial progress in the negotiation of regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) agreement. On top of that, China signed cooperation agreements with more than 20 countries under the Belt and Road Initiative. Its cooperation on production capacity also expanded to include dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
The country has endeavored to offer public products to the world. For instance, in 2015 China made utmost efforts to facilitate all parties reaching a comprehensive and balanced agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. It moreover established with the United Nations a peace and development fund and a South-South cooperation fund. China played as well a vital and constructive role in providing aid to fight Ebola and pirate-plagued areas, and in tackling issues with respect to Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria.
Benefits to the Country and the World
Open development will generate new opportunities and benefits for China and the world at large.
First of all, it brings more opportunities for China to improve its opening-up strategy in a more complete and systematic fashion. The number and capacity of border ports will be expanded and enhanced. Infrastructure construction will be promoted, and more measures launched to facilitate trade and investment, all which portend massive business opportunities. For instance, the processing trade, formerly concentrated in China's east, has begun to shift to the country's central and western regions, and displays an upgrade tendency towards the medium and high end of the industrial chain. The export rebate rate structure will be optimized, the scale of short-term export credit insurance enlarged, and pilot cross-border e-commerce will expand, to name but a few.
Second, more sectors will open up, and more institutions and system will undergo innovations. Wider market access to bank, insurance, securities, and pensions will thus be realized. At the same time, the country is striving to foster a better legal environment and a more equitable, transparent, and foreseeable investment environment. Foreign investment sectors that are subject to approval are to be reduced, and innovations will be carried out to the administrative systems of development zones and opening-up models in the country's inland and border regions. The service and manufacturing industries will open wider to the outside world, and a simplified process will be introduced for foreign-invested enterprises seeking to register in China. New export-oriented industrial clusters should also be created. Moreover, China will speed up its launch of the FTZ strategy and expand pilot FTZs to wider areas of the country. It will also proactively negotiate and sign the RCEP agreement. Meanwhile, it will accelerate free trade talks between China, Japan, and South Korea, promote negotiations on China-U.S. and China-EU investment agreements, and enhance joint strategic research on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific .
Third, the Belt and Road Initiative will see fresh opportunities. Fully showcasing the philosophy of open development, the aim of the initiative is a comprehensive new model of opening-up towards both the west and east that forges connectivity over both the land and sea. Combining the country's regional development and opening-up with international economic collaboration, China is going all out to build a land economic corridor and a maritime cooperation platform to advance trade communication and cultural exchanges. Together with the countries involved in the initiative, China will set up a mechanism for expanded customs cooperation and large-scale channels for trans-boundary logistics. It will also promote the establishment of border economic cooperation zones, cross-border economic cooperation zones, and overseas economic & trade cooperation zones. More production capacity cooperation will be carried out to deepen collaboration on equipment, technology, and services, all of which will be of benefit to countries along the Belt and Road. At the same time, improvements to supporting fiscal and tax policies are expected. China will also implement an overseas RMB cooperation foundation, and so give full play to production capacity cooperation funds.
Fourth, this open development will allow for common growth and opening-up for China's mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Frankly speaking, the integration of China's mainland and the other three regions into the world's economic system is at a varying pace. Advantages by virtue of their similar cultural backgrounds, geographic proximity, and close economic ties are yet to become fully apparent. Employing the open development strategy will both unlock and complement one another's potential and advantages against the backdrop of the global economic downturn, so strengthening the economic transition and upgrade as a whole.
Last but not least, the open development enables China to proactively participate in global economic governance and shoulder its share of responsibilities and duties in the international community. The country has committed to reducing its carbon emissions, and the world bears witness to its actions in this regard. China moreover acknowledges that its progress over the last four decades is attributable both to its own efforts and to the impetus it has gained from the global economic system. Upholding the strategy of open development, the country will be more active still in global economic governance. Its hard work and sincere will to develop together with other countries to improve global economic governance were proven at the 2014 APEC summit, and will also be a highlight of the G20 summit held in Hangzhou this September. As a responsible major country, China is ever mindful of its duty to offer foreign aid and maintain the safety of the international community.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has observed that China's reform and opening-up is always an on-going process. China advances along the road of opening up and integrates into the world through an ever-deepening, ever-expanding opening-up policy. Nearly four decades ago, we witnessed how the world had advanced, and hence set out to adopt the opening-up policy in efforts to change our backward state. Starting with simple hand-made products, Chinese residents of villages, towns and cities have now ventured into international trade and manufacture. On the other hand, the younger generation has in that space of time become aware of fashion, and delights in experimenting with overseas trends. Today, both China's people and products have gone global, just as the world shares China's goods, cultural products, and development experience. Instead of seeing itself and the world as two separate units, China is now becoming a part of the world.
Any number of roads may lead to a community of shared future for all humankind. But open development is probably the broadest.
KOU LIYAN is an associate researcher at China Center for Contemporary World Studies.
(Source: chinatoday.com.cn)