Editor’s note: CGTN’s First Voice provides instant commentary on breaking stories. The column clarifies emerging issues and better defines the news agenda, offering a Chinese perspective on the latest global events.
In recent years, economic globalization has been overshadowed by anti-globalization sentiments, with some Western countries repatriating capital, industries and jobs, boycotting foreign enterprises under the guise of “national security.” Moreover, some Western media have accused China of regressing in openness and refused to acknowledge its market economy status. No matter how open China is, it seems the country will never meet Western standards.
But has China’s openness declined as accused?
The following numbers will clearly show the answer is NO. China has maintained its position as the world’s largest trading nation in goods for 7 consecutive years. In the first half of 2024, the export value of products like automobiles, ships, and integrated circuits increased by 22.2 percent, 91.1 percent, and 25.6 percent year-on-year, respectively.
China has been actively expanding its circle of friends in global economic and trade cooperation. Its trade with partner countries under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) increased by 7.2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2024. The number of China Railway Express freight trains surpassed the target of 10,000, 19 days ahead of the same target period in the previous year, with a total cargo volume increase of 11 percent.
China offers visa-free entry to an increasing number of countries. In the first half of 2024, over 14 million foreigners entered China, nearly doubling the number who entered visa-free year-on-year. With a series of such measures implemented swiftly, China is opening up more of its sectors and creating more opportunities for foreign investments.
Despite anti-globalization sentiments, China’s doors remain open and will only open wider. In the Communique of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, it was stated that “opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. We must remain committed to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world and continue to promote reform through opening up. Leveraging the strengths of China’s enormous market, we will enhance our capacity for opening up while expanding cooperation with other countries and developing new institutions for a higher-standard open economy. We will steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the foreign trade structural reform, further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment, improve planning for regional opening up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.”
