The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization at its third plenary session held in Beijing this week.
The communique released on Thursday highlighted that “a high-standard socialist market economy will provide an important guarantee for Chinese modernization,” and that “high-quality development is our primary task in building China into a modern socialist country in all respects.”
This vision of high-quality development underscores the importance of opening-up for economic progress. Opening-up promotes trade, attracts foreign investment, and fosters innovation. By integrating into the global economy, countries can access new markets, technologies and ideas, driving growth and improving living standards. This openness enhances competitiveness and enables sustainable, long-term economic progress.
Describing opening-up as a “defining feature of Chinese modernization,” the communique said that the Party will “steadily expand institutional opening-up, deepen the foreign trade structural reform, further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment, improve planning for regional opening-up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).”
Prominent problems in the world today are the imbalance in economic development between the global North and South, the slowdown of economic globalization and the significant disarray in economic policies among countries.
In contrast to the common practice in the U.S. and Europe of actively expanding exports and reducing imports to narrow trade deficits, China continues to increase imports. The China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world’s first import-themed national-level exhibition, offers the vast domestic market of China to other countries and has therefore become a globally shared international public good.
At the sixth CIIE in 2023, 72 countries and international organizations participated in national exhibitions, while 3,486 enterprises from 128 countries and regions showcased 442 new products, technologies, and services at the corporate exhibitions.
Represented by the CIIE and the BRI, China’s focus is shifting from passive to proactive openness. The BRI is not merely about Chinese enterprises going global, but also about Chinese products, services, ideas, and even development models being well received.
Under the initiative, China is actively enhancing its cooperation with partner countries in development strategies, institutional mechanisms, and exchange platforms, promoting bilateral and regional cooperation.
China is actively advancing high-level opening-up across all sectors. Embracing economic globalization, promoting institutional opening-up, and meeting the populace’s aspirations for a better life are both the motivations and objectives of this endeavor.
This comprehensive approach to openness underscores China’s commitment to global cooperation and sustainable development, as Chinese modernization is about achieving common prosperity for all.