General

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress stressed that "China adheres to the basic national policy of opening up, firmly pursues the win-win strategy of opening up" and "promotes high-level opening up".

Wang Xiaohong, deputy director of the Information Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, believes that the promotion of high-level opening-up can focus on the following five aspects.

First, connect with the high standard international trade and economic rules such as CPTPP and DEPA, and promote high-level opening and in-depth reform. Wang Xiaohong recently pointed out at the 2023 Zhonghong Observers' Spring Festival Symposium that since China's accession to the WTO, China has gradually integrated into the global market and global industrial chain through the docking of international trade and economic rules. At present, we should further expand the market access of service industry, especially the market access of knowledge-intensive service industry; We will effectively promote the use of foreign capital in the manufacturing industry for admission and approval; Actively connect with international high-standard digital trade rules. With the strong rise of digital economy and digital trade, it is more urgent to build a global digital governance rule system. In this regard, China should deepen the reform of the post-border rules, especially in the areas of competition neutrality, state-owned enterprise reform, intellectual property protection, government procurement, etc., in order to create a highly market-oriented, law-based and international business environment. We should strengthen the voice and guidance of international trade rulemaking, implement RCEP well, promote the construction of regional industrial chain system oriented to East Asia and Southeast Asia, and lay the regulatory foundation for China's accession to the CPTPP; Promote the negotiation process of CPTPP and DEPA; Promote the soft connectivity of the rules and standards of the "the Belt and Road", give play to the mechanism of joint consultation and construction, and improve China's voice and leadership in global economic governance; Actively participate in the formulation of digital trade rules and sign the multi-bilateral Digital Economy Partnership; Promote the upgrading of existing free trade agreements.

The second is to expand the opening of knowledge-intensive service industry and improve the division of labor in the global value chain of the industry. We should promote the openness of digital technology, research and development, health care, culture and education as an important support to improve the supply-side structure, meet the demand for consumption upgrading, promote the transformation of the manufacturing industry and develop the digital economy. Improve the level of foreign capital utilization in advanced manufacturing industry, and attract multinational companies to set up service systems such as R&D and design centers, supply chain management centers, data centers, and settlement centers. Improve the digitalization level of goods trade, innovate and develop the business model of service trade, and vigorously develop digital trade.

Third, expand the opening up of the central and western regions and promote balanced and coordinated development of regional opening up. We should strengthen the construction of China Europe regular trains and new land and sea routes in the west, and build a major international trade channel facing the "the Belt and Road" in the central and western regions; Actively undertake the transfer of processing trade in the east, cultivate global processing and manufacturing bases, and especially take the development of digital trade as an important starting point to improve the opening level of the central and western regions.

Fourth, strengthen open innovation cooperation and promote independent innovation. In the era of digital economy, more emphasis is placed on open innovation and cooperation. We should support leading enterprises to build global innovation platforms, guide Chinese enterprises to integrate into the global innovation chain, and vigorously develop various digital platforms such as research and development, industrial design, cross-border e-commerce, etc. We should focus on giving full play to the unique advantages of foreign-funded enterprises in technology introduction, the role of adhesive in the construction of global innovation chains, and the role of inward and outward linkages in the combination of global innovation elements, and build a new model of technical cooperation with developed countries linked by the industrial chain supply chain. We should establish a long-term mechanism to attract overseas talents to innovate and start businesses.

Fifth, implement the upgrading strategy of the pilot free trade zone. We should give full play to the open highland role, pilot role and institutional integration advantages of the pilot free trade zone and free trade port, give greater reform autonomy, conduct open pressure tests on the standard CPTPP and DEPA rules, and build an institutional open highland.

China's adherence to a high level of openness to the outside world and steady expansion of institutional openness in terms of rules, regulations, management and standards will help promote the reform of the global governance system. Professor Xu Zhengzhong, deputy director of the economics department of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National School of Administration), believes that opening up is the only way for China's economic development and modernization. China needs to connect with high standards of international trade and economic rules, improve its position and voice in the international governance system, promote, maintain and operate new international rules, and promote the "three zero" opening of zero tariffs, zero subsidies, and zero barriers. Super-scale market advantage is a huge advantage in the construction of digital China. The expansion of China's market opening will open up more space for the economic growth of countries and the world.

At present, digital technology is bringing a new round of embedded globalization while the supply chain restructuring and globalization of the global industrial chain are facing a counter-current. The new round of globalization calls for worldwide public goods, requires the digitalization of traditional infrastructure, and at the same time, it is necessary to lay technical infrastructure, institutional infrastructure and security infrastructure to build an intelligent world of interconnected everything. In this context, the innovation ecosystem has become a new focus of global competition.

Xu Zhengzhong also pointed out that in the digital era, China must build an extraterritorial governance system and introduce a global modern industrial system to promote the reform of the global governance system. In terms of the construction of the extraterritorial governance system, improving the level of institutional construction is the core of promoting China's national competitiveness. The institutional tool formed by the linkage of property rights, knowledge rights, equity rights, capital rights and tax rights will become the infrastructure system for the construction of extraterritorial governance. We should actively participate in the reform of the global governance system, advocate a win-win China plan, and lead the creation of a market-oriented, rule-of-law, and internationalized new global development environment. In the aspect of introducing and cultivating the global modern industrial system, we should build a double chain of industrial chain and innovation chain, realize major industrial development and major technological breakthroughs, and build a high-tech aggregative industrial cluster integration.