Ten years of the "the Belt and Road" initiative: promote the formation of a new pattern of all-round opening up economy | export | all-round
On June 13th, China Net Finance reported that under the tightening policies of developed economies, analysts have reached a consensus on the prediction of sluggish external demand and export pressure in 2023. However, since the beginning of the year, exports have repeatedly exceeded expectations.
Where does the unexpected performance come from? At the third financial 40 person Qujiang Forum, an economist gave an answer: China's export growth to emerging markets such as countries along the "the Belt and Road" has offset the decline in exports to some developed economies.
Ten years since the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, it has greatly improved the breadth, depth and level of China's opening up, built a bridge for economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with more countries and regions, and promoted the formation of a new pattern of all-round opening up.
Supporting export resilience
In 2022, developed economies have launched a wave of interest rate hikes to cope with historically rare high inflation. However, frequent and rapid tightening policies have led to weak global economic growth and weak external demand.
Amidst the shadow of global trade, China's exports have continued to show impressive trends: in US dollars, exports increased by 14.8% year-on-year in March, far exceeding market estimates of a 7.1% decline; In April, exports increased by 8.5% year-on-year, continuing to maintain a strong growth rate.
"So far, China's trade and export data has objectively exceeded expectations, much better than what everyone expected at the end of last year." Lu Zhengwei, chief economist of Industrial Bank, said at the third Qujiang Forum of Financial Forty, that China's export growth to emerging markets such as countries along the "the Belt and Road" has offset the decline in exports to some developed economies.
Over the past decade, China's trade with countries along the "the Belt and Road" has continued to grow. According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, China's imports and exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" totaled 5.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 13.2%. Among them, exports reached 3.44 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.6%.
The "the Belt and Road" initiative has reshaped and upgraded China's export structure, greatly improving the resilience and growth potential of foreign trade to deal with uncertainty. "The areas where our exports were not good in the past and people didn't pay much attention to have become important highlights this year," said Lu, the political commissar.
Huang Yiping, vice president of the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, said that the "the Belt and Road" promotes multilateralism and defends an open economic system. "Previously, our economic relations were more concentrated in developed countries, and now we need to explore new areas of cooperation. Under the framework of multilateralism, the value of the the Belt and Road is more prominent."
"Ten years since the 'the Belt and Road' initiative was put forward, it has achieved fruitful results. More and more people have realized the great significance of the 'the Belt and Road' to the implementation of global sustainable development, as well as the major opportunities to promote cooperation between China and other countries." Long Guoqiang, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of State Affairs, said.
New Opportunities in the West
Under the "the Belt and Road" initiative, the western region of China has leapt from the "end" of opening up to the "front" of opening up. "The China Europe freight train has become a major channel for opening up to the west, and the western land sea new channel has become a new artery for going south to the sea, forming an open pattern of linkage between land and sea, and mutual assistance between east and west," said Yin Yanlin, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The western region has ushered in a historic opportunity for economic and social development and open cooperation. Yang Kaisheng, former president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, used a set of data to demonstrate the leapfrog development of the western region in the past decade: over the past decade, the gross domestic product of the western region increased from 10.6 trillion yuan in 2012 to 25.7 trillion yuan in 2022, and the economic growth rate has been higher than the national level for many consecutive years; The accessibility of infrastructure has significantly improved, and the railway mileage in the western region has exceeded 60000 kilometers, accounting for 40% of the national total; Industries with regional characteristics are accelerating their development, and new economies such as clean energy and intelligent manufacturing are flourishing. The proportion of electricity transmission across provinces and regions has reached over 70% nationwide.
Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, said that the "the Belt and Road" initiative has profoundly changed the world economic and trade pattern dominated by marine economy formed by nearly 300 years of industrial civilization, forming a new situation in which marine economy and land economy go hand in hand and develop together.
Long Guoqiang suggested that the western region should seize these opportunities and further improve its level of openness. Firstly, we need to focus on creating a first-class international business environment. "The improvement of the business environment in the western region has made significant progress in the past few years, but the improvement of the business environment itself is also an endless journey, always on the road." He said, "The improvement of the business environment between different countries and regions is a competition. If you don't advance, you will retreat, and if you progress slowly, you will also retreat. Therefore, the western region needs to have greater courage to take strong measures to further improve the business environment, in order to attract potential investors."
In addition, he proposed that the opening up of the western region to the outside world requires equal emphasis on both bringing in and going out. The introduction mainly relies on the improvement of the business environment, while going global requires the creation of local multinational companies with international competitiveness, enabling local enterprises, especially large enterprises, to enhance their ability to participate in global cooperation.
