Video screens show Chinese President Xi Jinping as he delivers an address to the opening ceremony of the third China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Wednesday. Photo: AP

  
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that China will continue to open up and become a greater market shared by the world as the 3rd China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicked off on Wednesday. 

Senior trade experts said President Xi’s speech at one of the world’s largest trade fairs struck a note of confidence and underlined the necessity for the world to cooperate amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has crippled the global economy.

“We will steadfastly expand all-round opening up and explore more efficient ways to connect domestic and foreign markets and share factors of production and resources,” Xi said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony via video link.

The Chinese president said the aim is to turn the China market into a market for the world, a market shared by all, and a market accessible to all to bring more positive energy to the global community.

Highlights of President Xi’s speech at CIIE 2020 Infographic: GT

 
Xi called on the global community to jointly cooperate and for greater openness to deal with uncertainties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, the Chinese president reassured the world that the country’s new development strategy of “dual circulation” is not a development loop behind closed doors, but more open domestic and international circulation. 

Xi said China will pursue creative ways to grow foreign trade and noted that China is home to the world's biggest middle-income group comprising of more than 400 million people, making it the world’s most promising market. Total imports into China are estimated to top $22 trillion in the coming decade.

Chinese trade experts following the CIIE and the President’s speech see the message as confidence boosting and having profound significance for the global economy currently mired in the pandemic.

“What's important is the Chinese President took the chance to reaffirm China's stance on opening by clarifying the misunderstanding of the country’s new development pattern of “dual circulation”,” Li Yong, deputy chair of the expert committee of the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Huo Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, said the Chinese president’s speech at the CIIE, held amid the challenges and hurdles posed by the coronavirus, underscores China's determination to push forward opening and global cooperation.

“China’s role as the world’s top market will mean the country will continue to increase imports of foreign goods and services, which is important for balancing the country’s trade,” Huo told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Facing challenges brought by the pandemic, no country can survive its impact without working with other partners, said Wei Jianguo, former Chinese vice minister of commerce and executive deputy director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

The Chinese President's call on major economies to act on sound principles can be read as a message to the EU and Japan, Wei said.

Wei predicts the value of deals inked at the third CIIE to be double of what was signed in 2019, as Chinese people’s demand for consumer goods and production goods have greatly increased in the past few years.

China will also shorten its catalogue of technologies prohibited or restricted from import to create a favorable environment for the free flow of technologies across borders, said Xi.

The CIIE, one of the world's largest trade fairs, promotes China’s role as a buyer of the world’s goods. 

The event has been viewed by participating companies worldwide as a window on China’s enormous opportunities after the country became the first major economy to achieve growth since COVID-19 crippled the world’s economy.

More than 2,700 businesses from more than 120 countries and regions are expected to attend the CIIE, according to official CIIE data. About 400,000 professional buyers are expected to participate.

Global Times