OPINION: China’s Deepening Reform and Opening-Up Offers More Opportunities to the World

By Ambassador Wei Hongtian

Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Grenada.

From July 15 to 18, 2024, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the ruling party of China, convened in Beijing.

It primarily examined issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernisation, and adopted the resolution of The CPC Central Committee’s Decision on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Advancing Chinese Modernisation, a guiding document to China’s development direction with a high degree of certainty, coherence, and continuity that put forward more than 300 important reform measures.

The importance of this meeting is demonstrated by fact that it not only ushers in a new historical period of China’s reform and opening-up, but also showcased China’s determination to overcome difficulties with greater strength and more specific policies, promoting the country’s comprehensive development and further opening-up to the outside world. 

This important gathering in the second largest economy and the largest industrial manufacturer of the world serves as a window for outsiders to understand China’s high-quality development and high-level opening-up.

As China’s economy has become such an integral part of the world, the tune that was set for the country’s development track in the coming years cannot be overstated.

There are four key takeaways that define China’s interaction with the rest of the world in the coming years: 

First, China will continue to meet the people’s need for a better life. Ensuring and enhancing the people’s well-being in the course of development is one of the major tasks of Chinese modernisation.

China will refine the systems of basic public services, with the focus on providing inclusive services, meeting essential needs, and providing a cushion for those most in need.

Under the guidance of people-centered philosophy, China’s strive to resolve the most practical problems that are of the greatest and most direct concern to the people are widely recognized.

As the Grenadian Government also cherishes the principle of “putting people first”, outcomes in promoting the well-being of the people are therefore achieved and will continue to be achieved by the two countries – this was clearly manifested by the recent grand opening ceremony of the Vincennes Community Center in St. David, whose construction was funded by the Chinese Embassy in Grenada.

Second, China will continue to promote high quality development with a special focus on innovation. The Resolution urged deepening supply-side structural reform, improving incentive and constraint mechanisms for promoting high-quality development, and creating new drivers and strengths for realising growth.

China will improve the institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, for promoting full integration between the real economy and the digital economy, for developing the service sector, for modernising infrastructure, and for enhancing the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains.

After creating a miracle of rapid economic development rarely seen in history over the past 40-plus years, China has realised that only by nurturing new industries, models, and growth drivers, namely, new quality productive forces, can China truly establish a modern industrial system that is self-supporting, controllable, secure, reliable, and highly competitive, as well as a green, low-carbon, and circular economy that delivers qualitative and innovation-driven growth.

With innovation lies at the core of this transformation process, China’s technological progress will benefit the whole world.

Chinese Ambassador Wei Hongtian

Third, China will continue to pursue high-standard opening-up. Describing opening up as a “defining feature of Chinese modernisation,” the Resolution states that China 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 (BRI).

The proportion of China’s total economic output in the world economy has risen from around 12.3% over a decade ago to about 18% now, and China’s contribution to global economic growth has remained at around 30% in recent years.

Against the backdrop of some certain countries turning inward themselves, scaling up protectionism, setting up barriers for international communication, but accusing China of becoming “conservative”, the Session declared to the world that China is firmly committed to the path of reform and opening-up.

Through deeper and higher-level two-way opening-up, China is dedicated to promoting the construction of an open world economy for the benefit of all countries. 

Fourth, China will continue to invest in green, low-carbon transition in economic and social development. The Resolution emphasized that “we must improve ecological conservation systems, take a coordinated approach to carbon cutting, pollution reduction, green development, and economic growth, actively respond to climate change, and move faster to improve the systems and mechanisms for applying the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”

By pushing for green transition in traditional industries and transportation, enlarging the use of renewable energy and promote the production of green products such as solar panels, electric vehicles and PV products, China has comprehensively integrated the word “green” into finance, trade, investment, consumption, technology among others.

As the world’s largest developing country, China is committed to the idea of a global community of shared future and it has always been a major participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global movement for building an eco-civilisation.

It has offered unwavering support to multilateralism, contributed Chinese wisdom and strength to implementing the 2030 UN SDGs, expanded practical cooperation, and actively participated in global environment and climate governance.

As a policy, reform and opening up is an inexhaustible force for the Chinese Modernisation – this is a message that the Session clearly conveys to the world.

Under the successful practice of steady and solid development in China, the whole world now knows that apart from the glorified western model, there are more paths to modernisation as long as they suit the conditions in certain countries.

It has been 10 years since the China-CELAC Forum and China-LAC community with a shared future were first initiated, and China and Grenada will celebrate their 20th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties early next year – mutual respect, mutual learning, fairness and win-win cooperation have always been the guiding principles for the relationship between China and Latin America and Caribbean countries, and as members of the Global South, the common aspiration for social-economic development, the people’s happiness, and international justice binds us together, allowing innumerable opportunities for experience sharing and practical cooperation.

China’s door will only open wider, so as to share its development fruits with the world and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for humankind.

Editor's note: The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of Sino-Carib News. This article was originally published in the The New Today. Sino-Carib News does not own the rights to this article.

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