Persisting in High-Standard Opening Up

To firmly promote high-standard opening up represents President Xi Jinping’s latest theoretical summary and strategic guidance based on new practice, which positions high-standard opening up as a driving force for furthering reform and high-quality development, thus forming an important component of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

I. Rich implications of Xi Jinping’s important statements on opening up

Stemming from the basic tenets of Marxism

President Xi’s important statements on opening up are grounded in the rational application of Marxist stances, viewpoints, and methods and the specific realities of contemporary China. He points out that opening up provides a major driving force for the progress of human civilization and carves the path necessary to achieve world prosperity and development. Moreover, his important statements on building an open world economy, upholding the multilateral trading system, and promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation all reflect the continuation and development of Marxist theories on the world market and world history. All these represent an innovative application of Marxist political economy under current conditions.

Rooted in the wisdom of the best of traditional Chinese culture

Chinese civilization has been known for its openness and inclusiveness since ancient times. The Silk Road, with an uninterrupted history spanning thousands of years, is not only a road for business and trade, but also for exchanges and mutual learning among different cultures. It vividly demonstrates the Chinese nation’s political ideal of pursuing “peace among all nations” and “harmony under Heaven,” broad-mindedness as represented in a Chinese saying “An ocean is vast because it refuses no rivers,” and the wisdom of exchanges that advocate “harmony but not uniformity” and “mutual benefit.” President Xi has quoted much-told stories of Zhang Qian’s journey to the Western Regions and Zheng He’s westward voyages on many occasions, which demonstrate the Chinese nation’s friendly exchanges with other countries and its spirit of openness and enterprise. President Xi’s important statements are rooted in the best elements of traditional Chinese culture while also endowing it with contemporary features. For instance, high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents a major achievement made through creative transformation and innovative development of traditional Chinese culture.

Spanish tourists pose for a photo in the Yuyuan shopping center in Shanghai, July 21, 2025. China’s visa-free policy has continued to enhance the country’s appeal as a travel destination, driving sustained growth in inbound tourism. XINHUA / PHOTO BY ZHANG YUE

Developing through the experience gained from local governance practices

President Xi has always attached great importance to open development. In Zhengding, Hebei Province, he stressed that the commodity economy is an open economy and extended invitations to talented people and experts nationwide, including the renowned mathematician Hua Luogeng, to contribute their expertise to the development of Zhengding. In Fujian, he put forward the notion that opening up and poverty alleviation should be integrated, and actively promoted economic and trade cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan. In Zhejiang, seeking to boost the province’s strength in the arena of opening up, he proposed the strategy of leveraging the province’s advantages in eight key areas and implementing corresponding measures to enhance openness to the rest of China and the world. In Shanghai, focusing on developing it into an international center for economy, finance, trade, and shipping, he urged intensified efforts to make the city more internationalized and improve its capacity to allocate resources. These extensive experiences of local governance laid a solid foundation for developing a systematic and complete set of theories on opening up, wherein it is stressed that “China’s opening up is a pursuit on all fronts and in various sectors. A new pattern of all-around opening up is taking shape in our country”; and “we should continue to gain momentum and enhance vitality through reform and opening up, leverage the strengths of coastal and border areas, and develop a diverse array of pacesetters for opening up, so as to achieve all-around opening up through links running eastward and westward, across land, and over sea.”

Based on a keen insight into domestic and international development trends

Internationally, changes on a scale unseen in a century are unfolding across the world at a faster pace. Unilateralism and protectionism are mounting, economic globalization is enduring a backlash, and the global governance system is undergoing far-reaching changes. Domestically, as China’s economy has shifted to a stage of high-quality development, it is necessary to attract more quality resources and factors of production from across the globe through high-standard opening up. With a broad global vision and historical insight, President Xi has made the profound declaration that “China will not close its door to the world; we will only become more and more open.” He has also stated that “we have proposed to foster a new development dynamic that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows. This is not a closed domestic loop, but rather a system composed of more open domestic and international circulations.” These major judgments and strategic decisions are made on the basis of a keen insight into the changes in our world, our times, and history, demonstrating strategic wisdom and historical initiative in shaping the trends of the era.

II. New achievements in promoting opening up

By pursuing a path of openness that suits our national conditions while aligning with overall trends, China has made new headway in developing an open economy

China’s policy to expand opening up is a choice that it has made of its own accord in light of the objective requirements for the country’s reform and development. As it opens its door wider and integrates further into the world, China has consistently maintained its independence and explored a path of opening up that suits its realities. We have taken the initiative to open wider and advance unilateral opening up. In doing so, we have adopted zero tariffs on all products from all the least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China, offered unilateral visa waivers to or sought mutual visa exemptions with more than 70 countries, and entered into framework agreements on economic partnership for shared development with over 30 African countries. China has led the world in the total volume of trade in goods for eight consecutive years, keeping its share of global exports consistently above 14% while raising its share of global imports from 9.7% in 2012 to 10.4% in 2024. The total volume of China’s trade in services reached a record high of over US$1 trillion in 2024, ranking second in the world. China’s status as a major country in two-way investment has become increasingly consolidated, with its utilized foreign investment totaling over US$3 trillion and the share of investment in high-tech industries rising from 12.8% in 2012 to 34.6% in 2024. With regard to the flow of outward direct investment, China has ranked among the top three in the world for 13 consecutive years. In the first three quarters of 2025, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises increased by 16.2% and non-financial outward direct investment increased by 4.8%.

By pursuing a path of openness that integrates domestic reform with opening up to the outside world, China has made new breakthroughs in expanding opening up at the institutional level

China has focused on both expanding opening up and steadily advancing reform. We have opened more sectors to foreign investment, removed all market access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, fully applied the negative list for cross-border trade in services, and expanded opening up of the service sector in a well-regulated manner. We have developed an array of pacesetters to lead the way in opening up by establishing 22 pilot free trade zones. A total of 485 institutional innovations developed in these pilot free trade zones have been replicated and promoted nationwide. Solid progress has been made in the development of integrated pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce. With a focus on promoting liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, we have supported Hainan in accelerating the development of a globally influential free trade port with Chinese characteristics. We have advanced reform and innovation of national-level economic development zones, which together boast 85,000 high-tech enterprises, accounting for 18.3% of the country’s total. These zones have made positive contributions to developing new institutions for an open economy and fostering new quality productive forces.

By pursuing a path of openness that benefits the development of both China and the world, China has made new advances in promoting opening up and cooperation

China has remained firm in pursuing a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up and worked together with other countries to make the pie of the global market even bigger. Under high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, trade in goods between China and other BRI participating countries from 2013 to 2024 totaled US$26 trillion, and two-way investment between them exceeded US$500 billion. Major signature projects such as the China-Laos railway have been completed alongside the implementation of a batch of “small and beautiful” public wellbeing projects. We have continued to make the China International Import Expo a success, with the event attracting a total of nearly 27,000 overseas exhibitors and showcasing over 3,320 representative new products, technologies, and services in the past eight years. The Hongqiao International Economic Forum has released the World Openness Report and the World Openness Index for five consecutive years, charting the course and serving as a barometer for opening up. We have expanded our network of free trade areas, with the number of free trade partners increasing to 31 and the share of trade with them rising to around 44% of China’s total foreign trade (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). Our capacity to shape new rules has been improved. We have taken the lead in formulating and implementing the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement and rallied approximately 130 World Trade Organization (WTO) members to join it. The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol was also signed and adopted, incorporating rules pertaining to digital and green initiatives, standards, connectivity of supply chains, and other emerging areas.

The inaugural ceremony of Siemens Energy (Hainan) Co., Ltd. The company was founded in Yangpu Economic Development Zone on December 18, 2025, which represents the first signature foreign-funded project in the manufacturing sector after the official launch of island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port. PHOTO BY CNS REPORTER LUO YUNFEI

By pursuing a path of openness that expands opening up while strengthening risk prevention, China has made new progress in enhancing its capacity for opening up

Applying a holistic approach to national security, China has resolutely safeguarded its national economic security. It has refined the export control framework and strengthened the capacity for licensing and law enforcement, thus ensuring and facilitating compliant trade of export-controlled items. The country has established sound early warning systems and legal service mechanisms for trade frictions, adopted multiple measures to respond to various types of new trade restrictions, and enhanced the resilience of industrial and supply chains, in an effort to effectively prevent and defuse risks and protect its development interests.

III. Initiating a new phase of high-standard opening up

Staying committed to pursuing a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up, China will continue to develop new institutions for a higher-standard open economy with greater confidence and more effective measures, and create new opportunities for the world through its own development. To this end, greater efforts will be made in the following aspects.

Sharing opportunities brought by opening the market

As China is the world’s second-largest consumer market and importer, we will accelerate efforts to boost the country’s strength in consumption and transform its vast market into a source of great opportunities for the world. We will create the “Export to China” brand. To this end, we will hold over a hundred events on ten themes, host the China International Import Expo to high standards, and enable more quality global products to enter and sell well in the Chinese market, making China the most attractive export destination for more countries. We will also create the “Purchase in China” brand. To do so, we will foster an internationalized consumption environment and further refine the departure tax refund policy. We will continue to expand inbound consumption, develop more cities into international consumption centers, and carry out trials for new modes, forms, and scenarios of consumer spending, so that inbound tourists can better feel the potential and vitality of China’s consumer market.

Improving the quality of open development

By leveraging both domestic and international markets and resources, China will steadily expand opening up at the institutional level and seize the strategic initiative in its opening up process. With the aim of accelerating China’s transformation into a trader of quality, we will upgrade trade in goods, diversify our markets, expand trade in intermediate goods, promote digital and green transformation of trade, and vigorously develop new forms and models of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce. We will adopt innovative measures to boost trade in services, steadily advance opening up in cross-border trade in services on a tiered basis, and establish national demonstration zones for the innovative development of trade in services. We will develop digital trade in an innovative manner and deepen cooperation with other countries in this sector. Further steps will be taken to make China a favored destination for foreign investment. To this end, we will expand market access and open more areas with a focus on the service sector, explore ways to expand trials for opening up in areas such as cloud computing, biotechnology, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, and take the initiative to open up further in the service sector in a well-conceived, orderly manner. We will advance the national comprehensive trials and demonstrations for expanding opening up of the service sector and leverage foreign-funded enterprise roundtables to provide those enterprises with quality services.

We will work to facilitate the integration of trade and investment, guiding the reasonable and orderly cross-border deployment of industrial and supply chains, improving the management system for outbound investment and comprehensive overseas services, and expanding the functions of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones. The strategy for upgrading pilot free trade zones will be implemented. We will make adjustments and improvements to the regional scope and configuration, step up efforts to carry out trials for opening up at the institutional level, apply successful experience to wider areas in light of local conditions, and enhance innovation-driven development capacity. Efforts will also be made to build the Hainan Free Trade Port into an important gateway for leading China’s opening up in the new era.

Further expanding opening up and cooperation

China will continue to develop and expand foreign economic and trade ties and broaden converging interests with other countries. We will advance negotiations on high-standard economic and trade agreements, speed up the process of seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, and carry out reforms in related areas to promote alignment with these agreements. Efforts will be made to put the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol into effect as soon as possible. We will work to conclude more high-standard free trade agreements, raise the proportion of zero-tariff products in trade in goods, work faster to expand opening up in trade in services through the negative list, and actively apply high-quality economic and trade rules to fields such as the digital economy, the green economy, and cooperation on standards. Solid progress in pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation is another goal for which we will strive. Pragmatic cooperation on trade, investment, industry, and people-to-people exchanges will be deepened, and cooperation in green development, artificial intelligence (AI), digital economy, medical and healthcare services, tourism, agriculture, and other areas will be expanded. We will also accelerate development of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation.

Strengthening China’s capacity to lead in opening up

China will strive to shift from catching up to leading the way, helping to guide the development of the international economic order in a more just and equitable direction. We will take an active part in the reform of the WTO, resolutely uphold the authority and effectiveness of the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing members. We will get fully involved in the formulation of rules regarding trade and the environment, digital trade, AI, supply chain resilience, and other emerging areas, work for positive results at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference, and play a constructive role in participating in and leading multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation. Through multilateral platforms including the UN, the G20, BRICS, and APEC, we will continue to promote economic globalization as well as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and foster an international economic environment that is free, open, inclusive, and orderly.

Ensuring the security of opening up

China will open its door wider to the outside world, while establishing robust safeguards against external risks. We will improve our system for ensuring security in opening up. In doing so, efforts will be stepped up to refine the export control framework, promote exchanges and cooperation on export control, formulate and revise relevant policies, regulations, and institutions, and strengthen targeted regulation, investigation, and law enforcement. We will work to improve the early warning mechanism for industrial damage and the mechanism for responding to trade friction, provide more tools for trade investigations, and refine our trade remedy system. We will enhance our capacity for preventing and defusing major risks and improve the national security review system for foreign investment. We will also advance legislation with regard to outward investment, fully leverage the role of the national-level platform for comprehensive overseas services, provide timely risk alerts, and properly handle various types of overseas emergencies, so as to safeguard overseas assets and personnel.

Wang Wentao is Minister and Secretary of the CPC Leadership Group, Ministry of Commerce.

(Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 1, 2026)