General

Local participation in international trade and economic cooperation plays an important role in China's opening up to the outside world. Especially after the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, local governments from the provincial level to the municipal level and even the county level have actively deployed, relying on their own unique resources and regional advantages, to find the fit point for participating in the "the Belt and Road" construction, expand economic and trade cooperation with countries along the line, and while improving the level of local openness and promoting economic development, they also contribute to the deep integration of China's economy into the global economy and building a new pattern of all-round opening up.

In recent years, not only has the opening up of the eastern coastal areas not decreased, but the central and western regions have also shifted from the periphery of opening up to the forefront. In the context of China's continuous promotion of broader, broader, and deeper opening-up to the outside world, local economic and trade cooperation has also shown characteristics such as equal emphasis on "going out" and "bringing in", equal emphasis on institutional and factor oriented opening, and equal emphasis on traditional and emerging industries. The recent national level important events such as the China Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, China Central Asia Summit, and Zhongguancun Forum have provided a platform for local international trade and economic cooperation in multiple fields, and set a model for better promoting opening-up in various regions in the future. At present, China's local participation in international economic and trade cooperation shows the following trends:

Under the leadership of the head of state's diplomacy. This year marks the beginning of the comprehensive implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China laid out a top-level design for China's diplomacy, clarified its mission and tasks, and made strategic arrangements. The diplomacy of the head of state leads China's diplomacy, promotes the development of friendly cooperation between China and other countries, and promotes the construction of a new type of international relations. China's circle of friends is becoming wider, with more and more new friends and old friends becoming more and more loyal. This provides a good environment for local economic and trade cooperation. For example, the list of achievements of the China China Asia Summit provides a guarantee for the economic and trade development between China and the five Central Asian countries, and also provides guidance for various regions to carry out international trade and economic cooperation in multiple fields with Central Asian countries.

The establishment of national mechanisms. From the current situation, more and more local economic and trade activities are upgrading to national level activities, which means that local economic and trade cooperation will increasingly receive support from the state. For example, Yunnan bears the heavy responsibility of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Expo and Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Dianchi Forum, a major event, has settled in Yunnan; China ASEAN cooperation is becoming increasingly frequent, and as the venue of the China ASEAN Expo, Guangxi has benefited greatly from it.

Regional characteristic support. The key points of local economic and trade cooperation between Yunnan and Guangxi mentioned above are all due to their geographical advantages, which can also be considered as a regional characteristic. Another regional characteristic lies in its unique culture. For example, as a Hui Autonomous Region, Ningxia has advantages in various aspects of connection with Arab countries, so the China Arab Countries Expo was settled in Yinchuan; Some regional characteristics lie in their industrial development, such as the developed manufacturing industry in Hunan, while Africa is in the stage of industrialization, and there is great potential for supply and demand coordination between the two sides. Therefore, the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo emerged.

International channel links. In recent years, the Trans-Eurasia Logistics and the new land and sea channel in the west have made several influential international land port cities in China's inland areas and become inland opening hubs. With the increasing improvement of China's railway network, more and more cities will be connected to this international railway network under the demonstration of previous dry port cities, so that their products and services can be linked to the international market, forming a development momentum of point by line and line by surface, and opening up the two channels of responsibility and supervision for China's local open development.

Open platform empowerment. At present, China has built a Open platform network covering the eastern, central and western regions. Pilot free trade zones (free trade ports), comprehensive protection zones, bonded zones, high-tech zones, economic development zones and other parks have become important platforms for local open development. These parks not only promote the development of foreign trade import and export and two-way investment, but also strengthen interaction with foreign parks and overseas parks constructed and operated by Chinese enterprises, further consolidating the relationship between these places and foreign parties, and laying a solid foundation for China's economic and trade cooperation.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of reform and opening up and the 10th anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative. Standing at a new starting point, it is not only necessary for us to summarize the achievements and experiences of local economic and trade cooperation in the past, but also to examine the trends of local economic and trade cooperation from a higher perspective and make up for its shortcomings. From the current environment that China is facing, geopolitical turbulence, Unilateralism, protectionism and other factors affect the development of China's foreign trade and economic cooperation. Strengthening local economic and trade cooperation has become an important way to break the situation; From a longer-term perspective, local foreign economic and trade cooperation will help China speed up the construction of a Dual circulation. Therefore, while grasping the above five characteristics, local international trade and economic cooperation should continue to exert efforts in the following two aspects to inject new local momentum into China's opening-up.

One is to gain a new positioning for economic and trade cooperation from a national perspective. Accelerating the construction of a Dual circulation and a unified national market provides new opportunities for local opening up and development. From past experience, it is not difficult for a place to find its position in international circulation, but rather in domestic circulation. In the process of unblocking the domestic circulation and accelerating the construction of a unified national market, local governments need to break down local barriers, avoid malicious competition in industries that are "large and comprehensive", find a position in the national industrial chain, further leverage local industrial advantages, create an industrial ecosystem, and focus on "going out" and "bringing in" advantageous industries, thus shaping new advantages in international trade and economic cooperation.

The second is to make new contributions from local sources to the exploration of institutional openness in China. At present, the construction of 21 pilot free trade zones in China has achieved excellent results, and the business environment in China is constantly improving. However, it is worth noting that the institutional innovation achievements of the pilot free trade zone show the characteristics of fragmentation and Micro-innovation, and need to continue to make efforts in strategic and leading aspects. This requires respective trade pilot zones to combine local industrial characteristics or geographical advantages, benchmark international high standard economic and trade rules, increase institutional innovation efforts, contribute local forces to the negotiation of free trade agreements, and promote high-quality development of China's foreign oriented economy. (Translated from: China Trade News)