CIIE: China’s promise and practice of opening-up

The China International Import Expo (CIIE), hailed as “an innovation in the history of global trade,” opened its third edition in this Chinese trade hub on Wednesday.

As the world’s first import-themed national-level expo, the CIIE embodies China’s solemn promise to opening-up, and epitomizes its firm commitment to supporting economic globalization and building an open world economy.

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging on and the world economy is tottering along, China’s steadfast promise and practice of opening-up resonate with and buoy up all those dedicated to battling the coronavirus, boosting common development and building a brighter future for humanity.

Going from strength to strength since its birth, the CIIE demonstrates China’s unfaltering determination to open wider to the world no matter how the external situation changes.

The CIIE came into being a decade after the 2008 global financial crisis, as the world economic recovery was losing steam, trade protectionism and unilateralism were on the rise, and economic globalization was facing strong headwinds.

Global trade is an important engine for world economic growth. When the world economy was facing severe challenges, China, as the world’s largest trader of goods, voluntarily set up the CIIE as a platform for businesses around the world to further tap its enormous and growing market. According to a 2018 estimate, China was expected to import more than 30 trillion and 10 trillion U.S. dollars’ worth of goods and services respectively in 15 years.

Over the past two years, the CIIE has grown into a key channel for products worldwide to find their way into the Chinese market. Official statistics show that tentative deals worth about 57.83 billion and 71.13 billion dollars were reached at the previous two editions respectively.

Along with China’s concrete moves to foster a world-class business environment and deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the CIIE has not only testified to China’s unflinching commitment to ushering in a new round of high-level opening-up, but also manifested its sense of responsibility as a major country to share its development opportunities and shore up the world economy.

The opening of the latest CIIE also clears up the doubts about China’s opening posture arising from China’s efforts to form a new development pattern that features the domestic market as the mainstay with domestic and international markets reinforcing each other.

The “dual-circulation” model does not mean that China will run its economy behind closed doors. Rather, China will only open its doors even wider.

“Our aim is to turn the Chinese market into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his keynote speech via video at the CIIE opening ceremony late Wednesday. “This way, we will be able to bring more positive energy to the global community.”

Rolled out as scheduled every year, the CIIE attests that China honors its promise of opening-up with concrete actions to share the dividends of its development with the rest of the world and bolster shared growth.

Over the past four decades, China has been striding resolutely forward along the path of reform and opening-up regardless of the vicissitudes on the global landscape. That path not only suits China’s development needs but accords with the trend of the times in this age of globalization.

As Xi said at the opening ceremony of the first CIIE, “openness has become a trademark of China.” The president pointed out that “China has grown by embracing the world, and the world has also benefited from China’s opening-up.”

China has for long been making relentless efforts to expand opening-up. It has set up a number of special economic zones (SEZs), including the Shenzhen SEZ, and established more than 20 pilot free trade zones across the country. It has been hosting a series of major trade events including the CIIE, the 63-year-old Canton Fair and the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). And it has also enacted a new foreign investment law.

China unswervingly follows a win-win strategy of opening-up, through which the country can draw strength from the world and better benefit the world with its development, Xi said in his speech last month at a grand gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen SEZ, the forefront and a symbol of China’s opening-up.

Since the 2008 international financial meltdown, China’s imports have contributed one sixth of the global import increase and served as a key booster and anchor of the global economic recovery. A report released by China’s Ministry of Commerce earlier this year shows that China has been the world’s second largest import market for 11 consecutive years, accounting for more than 10 percent of the world’s total imports.