China to deepen reform, opening-up, expand cooperation in new era
12 June 2021 - 12:28PM
PR Newswire (US)
BEIJING, June 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the conviction
that openness is the way to growth and wealth, Chinese President Xi
Jinping has called on China and
the rest of the world to expand cooperation and build a community
with a shared future for mankind.
While attending the APEC CEO Summit in Bali, Indonesia back in November 2013, the Chinese president quoted a
time-honored saying to express the country's firm determination to
reform and open up its economy and enhance cooperation with the
rest of the world.
"China will commit itself to
building a cross-Pacific regional cooperation framework that
benefits all parties. The vast Pacific is free of natural barriers,
and we should not erect any man-made ones. 'Boundless is the ocean
where we sail with the wind,'" Xi said, quoting a line from a
Chinese poem written 1,000 years ago.
The remarkable changes that resulted from China's 1978 reform and opening-up policy
testify to the great value of the conviction that openness is the
way to growth and wealth.
Guided by the policy, the country has been transformed from a
largely agricultural nation to the second largest economy in the
world.
China's total imports and exports
of goods expanded 1.9 percent year on year to 32.16 trillion yuan (about 4.97 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2020.
China also joined the ranks of the
world's top 10 most improved economies for ease of doing business
for the second year in a row thanks to a robust reform agenda,
according to a World Bank study report for 2020.
Meanwhile, China has signed
cooperation agreements with 140 countries and 31 international
organizations under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), since it
was initiated in 2013.
As China embarks on a new journey
toward socialist modernization via the 14th Five-Year Plan
(2021-2025), opening up remains crucial to the country's new
roadmap.
China now has 21 pilot free trade
zones (FTZs), after unveiling three new FTZs last year. It also
signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement,
which is set to be the world's biggest free trade bloc.
President Xi has previously pledged that "China's door of opening-up will not be closed
and will only open even wider," signaling the clear intent for
greater global cooperation.
Link: https://youtu.be/9NREbgLCNr4
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