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Commentary: China to Open Wider to Outside World in New Century
China's opening-up will be expanded from a restricted scope and areas to an all-round openness, said Chinese State Councilor Wu Yi Friday in Xiamen.
Wu's remark is a firm and clear signal sent by the Chinese government to the world that it will push its opening-up, a basic state policy implemented for 22 years, to a higher level in the next century.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the Fourth China Fair for International Investment and Trade, Wu said the opening-up permitted by policy featuring an experimental nature in the past will be changed into a predictable opening-up under legal framework, namely to open up in accordance with a committed schedule.
The unilateral opening-up mainly on the Chinese side will be turned into a mutual opening between China and WTO members, she further explained.
To echo Wu's address, Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said in his speech that the Chinese government will adopt more forceful measures to further open the market for trade in goods and trade in services.
China will also push forward further the absorption of foreign funds in commerce, foreign trade, finance, insurance, securities, telecommunications, tourism and other fields, he said.
In accordance with the basic rules of WTO and its commitments in bilateral agreements, China will gradually and in a planned manner revise laws and regulations on foreign investment and further improve the investment environment.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin recently said "China should more actively participate in international competition and collaboration, so as to push forward an all-round, multi-level and broader opening-up."
The opening-up policy is a strategic decision initiated in 1978 by the second generation of Chinese central leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core. Deng once pointed out, China's reform and opening-up would remain unchanged for 100 years.
The opening-up brings to China a large amount of funds which the country needs urgently, and technology, talented people with management experience. China has been the biggest foreign direct investment recipient in developing countries for seven years in row since 1993. China's foreign trade ranks ninth in the world and its economic scale is seventh.
Ma Xiuhong, assistant minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, said there use to be disputes about opening-up, especially on how to make good use of foreign funds in China. However, such disputes have disappeared in recent years as economic globalization speeds up, and the science and technology advance rapidly.
An official with the State Council's office for reforming economic system said China's opening-up policies adopted over the past two decades have been fully implemented, and its opening-up now faces the change from quantity to quality.
Economist Hu Angang said China can realize its strategic economic goals only by opening wider to the outside world.Analysts say the 20-year opening-up has made internationalization a marked structural change in China's economy, and to the degree that China and other parts of the world rely on each other has further increased.
They said if China wants to realize its goal of doubling its current GDP by 2010, it needs to introduce more foreign funds, advance technology and management experiences. China also needs to further develop its economy, trade, and open its market wider.
China urgently needs the world's high technologies and management experience in the development of its western region, pushing forward the adjustment of economic structure and reforming the state enterprises. China also needs to open the market for commerce, finance, insurance, tourism and other fields as the living standards of the Chinese people has improved markedly, they said.
Analysts held that the important decision to speed up negotiation process of China's accession into the WTO, which was made by the central leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core, is a significant symbol and the embodiment of the determination of the Chinese government to raise the opening-up to a higher level.
China, in the past year, adopted a series of policies encouraging foreign business people to invest in high-tech fields, especially in central and western China. It also opened more areas in the service and other sectors in accordance with its commitments in bilateral agreements on accession into the WTO.
Observers said currently, China enjoys a favorable situation for its opening-up as the Chinese economy has made a turn for the better, and the effect of the Asian financial crisis has faded away.
Experts held that the next five to 10 years is an important period for China's economic and social development. Reform of the economic system, adjustment of the economic structure and economic growth mode all facilitate the possibility that China's opening-up will move to a higher level.
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