"Since the reform and opening up, Volkswagen has always been an important member of China’s automobile industry. Based on the strategy of "in China, for China", in the future, we will make better use of local innovation forces and respond to the needs of China consumers more nimbly. " On 18th, Bered, chairman and CEO of audi ag (China), told International Sharp Review.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. Reform and opening up not only profoundly changed the face of China, but also brought win-win opportunities to the world. Especially in the past 10 years, China has implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, and multinational companies like Volkswagen have gained rich returns.
Twenty-two free trade zones have been built, the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port has been accelerated, the negative list of foreign investment access has been continuously reduced, the Foreign Investment Law has been promulgated, and the "the belt and road initiative" has been built with high quality … In the past 10 years, China has been continuously opening up from a mobile type of goods and factors to an institutional type of opening up such as rules, regulations, management and standards, which proves that "opening up to the outside world is a key measure for China’s development".
So, how important is a high-level open China to the world?
What China’s open economy brings is, first of all, a solid contribution to economic growth. In the past 10 years, the proportion of China’s total economic output in the world economy has increased from 12.3% to over 18%, and its annual average contribution rate to world economic growth has exceeded 30%. China has been a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the contribution rate of China’s economy will still exceed 30% this year. It can be seen that China has always been an important engine of world economic growth, which is particularly important at the moment when the world economic recovery is weak.
For multinational enterprises, they have enjoyed the dividend of China’s economic growth and gained extensive development space in China. In the past 10 years, the global share of China’s foreign investment has increased from 8.2% to 11.4%. The third phase of BASF Shanghai Innovation Park was completed, the third phase of Schneider Electric Shanghai Kangqiao Factory was put into production, and Danfoss Global Refrigeration R&D and Testing Center was put into use in Tianjin … Since this year, many foreign companies have invested more in China. According to a survey conducted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in the third quarter of this year, nearly 90% of the foreign-funded enterprises surveyed expect their profits to be flat or improved in the next five years. Wang Na, Marketing Director of Dole China, told International Sharp Review that he was very optimistic about the open China market and deeply felt that the demand of China consumers for high-quality fruits brought Dole more development opportunities.
The opening-up of China is still the opening-up that leads the economic development trends such as greening and digitalization. As the largest exporter of goods, China’s international share will increase to 14.7% in 2022. Since the beginning of this year, China’s "three new products" (electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells) have caused a worldwide upsurge. Recently, Nikkei News reported that thanks to the vigorous development of green technology products, China has been the largest exporter of goods in the world.
In 2022, China’s digital economy accounted for 41.5% of GDP, ranking second in the world. Some analysts pointed out that China has gained great advantages in artificial intelligence, new energy, biotechnology and so on, and it is in the first camp and even occupies a dominant position. In Southeast Asia, China enterprises helped to build the first 5G smart hospital in ASEAN; In Africa, China’s digital intelligent logistics management system helps Nigerians to make online shopping more convenient; In Latin America, China cooperates with Brazil, Ecuador and other countries with digital technology to help protect the Amazon rainforest ecosystem and other environments … The development of digital technology in China is benefiting people of all countries and injecting new momentum into world economic growth.
More importantly, China’s concept of opening to the outside world and its efforts to build an open world economy have brought a new atmosphere to the global governance system. In the past 10 years, from putting forward the initiative of "the belt and road initiative", global development initiative, global security initiative and global civilization initiative, to holding a series of international exhibitions such as China International Import Expo(CIIE) and Service Trade Fair, to signing and implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and promoting the accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, China has always insisted on discussing, building and sharing, and welcomed the world to share opportunities in China. Take the co-construction of "the belt and road initiative" as an example. In the past 10 years, it has boosted the investment scale of nearly one trillion US dollars, created 420,000 jobs for the co-construction of the country and lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty. This is a vivid interpretation of China’s concept of global governance, which promotes the continuous improvement of the global governance system.
"The open door of China will not be closed, but will only grow bigger and bigger." The just-concluded China Central Economic Work Conference in 2023 put forward a series of new measures on "opening up to the outside world at a high level". The world has every reason to look forward to China’s "key move" and the more opportunities it will bring, from accelerating the cultivation of new kinetic energy of foreign trade, relaxing market access for services such as telecommunications and medical care, and benchmarking international high-standard economic and trade rules.
(International Critical Commentator)