Forge ahead on the road to a strong country and stride forward on a new journey | High-level opening up paints a magnificent picture of Chinese-style modernization

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "only an open China can become a modern China". In the 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, my country has continuously explored the path of opening up with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has built a new open economic system with a higher level from a new starting point, formed a new pattern of opening up to the outside world in a larger scope, wider fields and deeper levels, and continuously expanded the space for the development of Chinese-style modernization.

Shenzhen, located on the coast of the South China Sea, has nearly half of the country's total inbound and outbound traffic of people and vehicles, one-tenth of the country's total trade, and an average annual output value of over 1.7 billion yuan per square kilometer.

On the coast of the East China Sea, in the Lingang New Area of ​​the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory has reached 45% of its construction progress three months after its start.

At the western border, at the Horgos railway port in Xinjiang, it takes an average of two hours to complete the transshipment of an inbound and return China-Europe train. More and more "Made in China" products are heading to the Central Asian and European markets from here.

Today's China is undergoing tremendous changes every moment.

Looking back at China 75 years ago, it was poor and backward. The scale of trade in goods was only US$1.13 billion in 1950, but it has jumped to US$5.9 trillion by 2023, maintaining its position as the world's largest trader in goods for seven consecutive years. At the beginning of the founding of New China, foreign exchange reserves were only more than US$100 million, but now they have exceeded more than US$3 trillion, ranking first in the world for 19 consecutive years. Foreign investment has achieved a leap from zero to US$100 billion. Today, foreign investors have established more than 1.2 million enterprises in China, and the scale of two-way investment ranks among the top.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, in the face of unprecedented changes in the world, General Secretary Xi Jinping has personally planned, deployed and promoted the implementation of a series of major strategic measures for opening up to the outside world, and built a new open economic system at a higher level. From setting up pilot free trade zones to building free trade ports, we have increased institutional opening-up; from promoting the optimization and upgrading of goods trade, innovating the development mechanism of service trade to developing digital trade, we have accelerated the construction of a strong trading nation; from the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the China International Consumer Products Expo to the China International Digital Trade Fair, we have built an international platform for sharing, openness and cooperation for the world; and we have proposed the great initiative of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, and promoted the construction of an open world economy with the Chinese solution.

Zhao Zhongxiu, President of the University of International Business and Economics: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly grasped the general trend of China's and the world's development in the new era, promoted innovation in the theory and practice of high-level opening-up, and established a new concept of open development. my country's construction of a new open economic system has made comprehensive progress. The level of opening-up has leapt to institutional opening-up and has steadily expanded. China is confident and independent in opening-up, and has pushed opening-up in the new era to a new level at a new historical starting point.

Today's China insists on promoting high-quality development with high-level opening-up, steadily expanding institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, and the vitality of opening-up is increasingly bursting forth.

Just this month, the 2024 National Negative List for Foreign Investment Access was officially released, all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector were "cleared", and the opening of the service sector was further expanded. The "zero tariff" policy for drugs and medical devices in Hainan Free Trade Port was officially released, and the scope of "zero tariff" was further expanded. Now, the policy system of Hainan Free Trade Port has been initially established, and the closed-border operation has entered a critical period.

At the same time, 22 free trade pilot zones have built a new pattern of reform and opening up covering the east, west, south, north and center, and coordinating the coastal, inland and border areas.

Today's China is more actively pursuing independent and unilateral opening-up.

We proactively lowered tariffs, with the overall tariff level down to 7.3%, lower than the 9.8% commitment upon accession to the WTO. We built a network of high-standard free trade zones, and the number of free trade agreements signed with foreign countries increased from 10 to 22.

Opening up has changed China and benefited the world.

On the big screen of the Chongqing Dry Port Dispatching Center of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, with Chongqing as the coordinate point, a "main artery" connecting the world is drawn. Today, the logistics network of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor has covered 523 ports in 124 countries and regions around the world, and the China-Europe Express train goes directly to Europe. Since the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, more than 3/4 of the countries and more than 30 international organizations in the world have joined the "Belt and Road" family, driving an investment of nearly one trillion US dollars and becoming a popular international public product and international cooperation platform.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made comprehensive arrangements for improving the high-level opening-up system and mechanism. Further shorten the negative list for foreign investment access, promote the comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding the opening-up of the service industry, allow Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places to set up wholly foreign-owned hospitals, and fully implement the negative list for cross-border trade in services... A more open China will provide new opportunities for world development with new achievements in Chinese-style modernization.