State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China

“ Opening-up was key to China’s economic growth over the past 40 years. In the same vein, high-quality development of China’s economy in the future can only be achieved with greater openness. China will continue adhering to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up. China will more proactively embrace economic globalization, adopt policies to promote high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and work together with other countries to build a community of shared future with extensive converging interests and a high degree of interdependence. ”

“ The world is undergoing a new round of major development, great change and profound readjustment. The mankind still faces growing uncertainties and destabilizing factors. Surging tides of anti-globalization in recent years, coupled with rising protectionism and unilateralism, have posed severe challenges to the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core.
Economic globalization has powered global growth and is an irreversible trend of our times. China and the multilateral trading system stand together through thick and thin. ”

“ China commits itself to opening up wider and deeper to promote common development across the world, providing other countries with more opportunities to share the benefits of China's development. China is willing to work hand-in-hand with its global trading partners to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and win-win with benefits to all so that different countries, different social strata and different groups of people all share in the benefits of economic globalization. ”

“ China pursues a trade strategy of mutual benefit, win-win, diversification and balanced development. It endeavors to raise the quality and added-value of its exports, proactively increase imports, and better integrate into the global value chains. China never deliberately pursues trade surplus in goods. At the same time, China takes an objective view towards existing trade deficit in services. ”

“ China will take innovation as the primary driving force for development. China will adopt a more open attitude, strengthen the protection of innovation and intellectual property rights, and enhance international exchanges and cooperation. These efforts will ensure that technological development and innovation benefit not only China, but also the world, and its convenience readily accessible to more and more people. ”

“ China makes efforts to create a favorable and orderly investment environment, ease market access for foreign investment, further simplify the administrative procedures on access to foreign investment, build pilot free-trade zones (FTZs) with high standards, and better promote and protect foreign investment. China works to improve an investment climate that conforms to international rules, facilitates foreign investment and is based on the rule of law, and to make its market more transparent and better regulated. ”

“ China's innovation in trade models has also given new impetus to world trade growth. Cross-border e-commerce and other new types and modes of foreign trade have flourished in China, providing an ever-expanding market to its trading partners. In 2017, the value of imported and exported goods in cross-border e-commerce checked and released by China Customs totaled RMB90.24 billion, up by 80.6 percent on yearly basis, of which imports stood at RMB56.59 billion, up by 120 percent compared with the previous year. ”

“ The country always welcomes imports that diversify market supply, improve people's quality of life, and upgrade its industrial structure. In recent years, on top of its commitments to the WTO, China has self-initiated significant reductions to import tariffs on an interim basis for multiple times. According to the WTO, China's trade-weighted average import tariff rate had fallen to 4.4 percent in 2015, only 1.5 to 2 percentage points higher than those of developed economies such as the US and the EU. By the end of 2017, China had reduced tariffs on more than 900 tariff lines. ”

“ Committed to advancing economic globalization and safeguarding free trade, China is negotiating with relevant parties the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership for its early conclusion and implementation, and is accelerating the building of Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific and East Asia Economic Community. With all these efforts, China will build a high standard network of free trade areas, focusing on the neighboring areas, radiating across the Belt and Road and open to the world. ”

“ Strengthening IPR protection is the centerpiece for improving the property rights protection system, and it would provide the biggest boost to the competitiveness of the Chinese economy. It not only serves China's own development needs, but also helps cultivate a business environment that is law-based, internationalized and business-friendly. China encourages technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and protects the lawful IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China. ”

“ China has quickened its pace in promoting new industrialization, IT application, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, created enormous opportunities for consumption and investment, and generated more jobs for the world. According to a report released by the International Labor Organization, "Effects of China on the Quantity and Quality of Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean", China created 1.8 million jobs for Latin America and the Caribbean region from 1990 to 2016. ”

“ Extensively opening up the services market. China has striven to boost the services industry and increase its share of contribution to the economy. Of the 160 services sub-sectors under the 12-sector WTO classification, China committed to opening up 100 sub-sectors under 9 sectors, a level approximate to the average 108 sub-sectors committed by the developed members of the WTO. By 2007, China had honored all of its commitments on trade in services. ”

“ China has been promoting the establishment of a fair, equitable and transparent system of international trade and investment rules to boost the orderly flow of production factors, efficient resources allocation and full market integration. ”

“ The enactment of the Law on Foreign Investment will be expedited to build a legal system for foreign investment that meets the needs of reform and opening-up in the new era, elevate opening-up to a higher level, push for deeper reform in the foreign investment administration system, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment and foreign investors. ”

“ Pursuing free trade through platforms for multilateral cooperation. China advocates solving international trade problems through cooperation, dialogue and consultation on an equal footing. During the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the G20 Hangzhou Summit, and the BRICS Xiamen Summit, all hosted by China, the country increased coordination with all parties concerned, and secured statements on opposing trade protectionism in the outcome documents of these summits. ”

“ China encourages its enterprises to abide by local laws, fulfill corporate social responsibilities and observe business principles and international practices when they do business in host countries and conduct outward investment cooperation. China will continue to promote the sustainable, reasonable, orderly and sound development of outward investment, and effectively prevent risks of all kinds. ”

“ To diversify entities and stimulate their enthusiasm to engage in foreign trade, in July 2004 China replaced approval system with registration system for foreign trade authorization, releasing immense vigor of private businesses which has led to a surge of foreign trade in the private sector. ”

“ Since 2001, intellectual property royalties paid by China to foreign right holders has registered an annual growth of 17 percent, reaching USD28.6 billion in 2017. In 2017, China received 1.382 million invention patent applications, ranking the first in the world for the seventh consecutive year. ”

“ China has step by step lowered the threshold for foreign investment to enter the services sectors in China, lifted geographical and quantitative restrictions on services according to schedule, and constantly broadened the business scope for foreign investment in the services sectors. ”

“ In those free trade agreements, basically 90 percent of imported products enjoy duty free treatment, and approximately 120 service sectors have been opened to foreign suppliers, compared to 100 service sectors in China's commitments to the WTO at the time when China joined the organization. ”

“ In the coming 15 years, China is expected to import USD24 trillion worth of goods. The CIIE will provide new export opportunities for the world, build a new platform for other countries and regions to share China's development dividends, and bring more dynamism to world economic growth.
IV. China Is Actively Advancing Opening-Up to a Higher Level
Fulfilling China's WTO commitments has never been the end point of its opening-up. ”

“ As regards the shipbuilding industry, China will lift foreign equity caps for companies engaged in the design, manufacturing and repair of vessels in 2018. Moreover, China will lift foreign equity caps on airplane manufacturing of trunk airliners, regional jets, utility aircrafts, helicopters, drones and lighter-than-air aircrafts. In the automobile industry, China will remove foreign equity caps on manufacturing of special-purpose vehicles and new-energy vehicles, and phase out those on all automotive ventures over the next five years. ”

“ Meanwhile, in order to create a more equitable, transparent and predictable environment for foreign investment, China calls on host countries to refrain from abusing security review or adopting other restrictive practices to impose excessive limitations on foreign investment. ”

“ China has set up three IPR courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and special judicial organs at 15 intermediate courts in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an and other cities to handle cross-regional IPR cases, including those related to patents. China strengthened administrative law enforcement on intellectual property protection and launched special campaigns targeting outstanding problems, which effectively protected intellectual property rights. ”

“ It has donated USD1 million to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility to assist the implementation of the TFA. The LDCs and Accessions Program, established by China in 2011, has helped six LDCs accede to the WTO. Since 2017, China has strengthened cooperation with the WTO and other international organizations under the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, and carried out cooperative projects in "Aid for Trade" to help other developing members benefit from global value chains. ”

“ The threshold will be lowered for foreign talents to work and start their own businesses in China. In addition, China will improve various development zones, build the pilot FTZs with high standard and good quality, and explore the construction of free-trade ports with Chinese characteristics. ”

“ It has accelerated the modernization of China's port management. China will further optimize supervision and management approaches, reform port administration regime and streamline procedures and reduce costs for import and export, to create a more business-friendly environment at the port. ”

“ This has involved reorganizing the relationship between the government and the market, letting the market play the decisive role in resource allocation and the government play its role better. Education campaigns on WTO rules have been extensively rolled out, raising public awareness of the market, competition, rules and the concept of rule of law. ”