Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 28. One year ago, on June 28, 2019, the fourteenth summit of the leaders of the G20 was held in Osaka, Japan. President Xi Jinping attended and delivered an important speech entitled "Working Together to Build a High-Quality World Economy", announcing that China will further launch major measures for opening up:
At present, the new crown epidemic has brought unprecedented challenges, the global economy has been declining synchronously, and the road to recovery is "blocked and long." The IMF's latest forecast is that the global economy will shrink by 4.9% in 2020, facing the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Open or closed, working hand in hand or retreating to protect oneself, humanity is once again at the intersection of choice. In the face of the complicated international situation and the still severe global epidemic situation, China has always maintained the policy rhythm of expanding opening up and upholds the belief and standpoint of win-win cooperation. Over the past year, President Xi announced the five major measures of China's opening to the outside world at the G20 Osaka Summit, and gradually landed.
Over the past year, China's pace of further opening up the market has continued to accelerate
"We are about to release the 2019 version of the negative list of foreign investment access to further expand the opening of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and service industries." This was Chairman Xi's solemn commitment at the G20 Osaka Summit a year ago.
A few days after the Osaka Summit, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce of China announced the 2019 edition of the National Negative List of Foreign Investment Admissions and the Free Trade Pilot Zone Negative List of Foreign Investment Admissions. On June 24 this year, China announced two 2020 "negative lists" of the 2020 version, further improving the level of openness in the service industry, manufacturing, and agriculture.
The continued "downsizing" of the negative list has become a strong testimony of China's implementation of wider, wider fields, and deeper comprehensive opening up, and it has also released a strong signal to the world that China will continue to promote reform and development through opening up in the face of the impact of the epidemic.
When talking about China's initiatives to further open the market at the G20 Osaka Summit, President Xi also mentioned: "Six new free trade pilot zones, a new zone of Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone, and expedite the exploration and construction of Hainan Free Trade Port process."
On February 16, 2020, the ro-ro cargo ship "Laura" sailed into the port of Xiuying in Haikou, which was the first automobile foreign trade ship since the implementation of the Hainan Free Trade Zone policy. Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Guanyu
Promises must be kept and action must be resolute. On June 1 this year, the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" was officially announced, and a key step was taken in the construction of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics. President Xi specifically made important instructions for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port: "Connecting with international high-level economic and trade rules, promoting the free and convenient flow of production factors, and building a free trade port with high quality and high standards."
At the same time, the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone has also begun in full swing. On August 6, 2019, the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone officially set sail. In the same month, the "big family" of the China Pilot Free Trade Zone added six new members to the six provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan, and Heilongjiang.
Over the past year, China’s initiative to expand imports has continued to land
A year ago, at the G20 Osaka summit, President Xi made it clear: "We will further reduce tariffs on our own, strive to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers, and significantly reduce the institutional cost of imports. Do the second China International Import Expo."
Let's take a look at this solid Chinese action:
——From January 1, 2020, China once again lowered the import tariffs of some commodities, and began to implement the provisional import tax rate lower than the most-favored-nation tax rate for more than 850 imported commodities including daily consumer goods, important medicines, advanced technological equipment, etc. National economy and people's livelihood.
——The second China International Import Expo has achieved fruitful results. A total of 181 countries, regions and international organizations participated. More than 3,800 enterprises participated in the exhibition. The cumulative intention turnover was US$71.13 billion.
——Under the pressure of the epidemic situation, the preparation work for the third Expo has progressed in an orderly manner. On the occasion of the countdown of 150 days, the contracted exhibition area of the enterprise commercial exhibition has exceeded 90% of the planned area, and some exhibition areas are difficult to find.
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Over the past year, China’s original intention to continue to improve its business environment has never changed
"We will implement a new foreign investment legal system on January 1 next year, introduce a tort punitive compensation system, strengthen civil judicial protection and criminal protection, and increase the level of intellectual property protection." A year ago, in the G20 Osaka At the summit, President Xi gave a clear "timetable" for China's implementation of a new foreign investment legal system.
On the first day of 2020, the Foreign Investment Law and its implementation regulations were formally implemented, which fully established a pre-entry national treatment plus negative list management system for foreign investment, which provided a rule of law guarantee for advancing a higher level of opening up.
The continuous improvement of China's business environment is obvious to the world. According to the Global Business Environment Report 2020 released by the World Bank, China’s business environment ranked 31st among 190 economies worldwide, a significant increase from 46th in the previous year.
Over the past year, China’s efforts to fully implement equal treatment have never stopped
A year ago, President Xi stated at the G20 Osaka Summit: "We will completely remove restrictions beyond the negative list of foreign investment access. In the post-access phase, all types of enterprises registered in China will be treated equally and without discrimination. Establish and improve a complaint mechanism for foreign-funded enterprises."
At the beginning of 2020, China promulgated the implementation regulations of the Foreign Investment Law, which clearly stipulated that the government and its relevant departments should treat foreign investors equally in accordance with the law in terms of funding arrangements, land supply, tax reductions, qualification permits, standard setting, project declaration, and human resources policies. Investment enterprises and domestic enterprises.
Treating them equally and treating them equally, the open and inclusive Chinese economy is glowing with a huge magnet effect. The American Rongding Consulting Group recently released a report saying that the enthusiasm for foreign mergers and acquisitions in China continues to rise. In the first five months of 2020, the amount of foreign capital mergers and acquisitions in China reached US$9 billion, exceeding the amount of overseas mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies for the first time in 10 years.
Over the past year, China’s determination to vigorously promote economic and trade negotiations has been consistent
A year ago, at the G20 Osaka summit, President Xi declared: "We will promote the early conclusion of a regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement, accelerate the negotiation of the China-EU Investment Agreement, and accelerate the negotiation process of the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement."
Over the past year, China's determination to vigorously promote economic and trade negotiations has been consistent. In November 2019, significant progress was made in the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), and 15 member countries concluded all text negotiations and virtually all market access negotiations. In June this year, the RCEP ministerial video conference was held, and the parties decided to commit to signing agreements within the year.
At the 22nd China-EU Leaders' Meeting held recently, the leaders of China and Europe reaffirmed their commitment to reach a China-EU investment agreement in 2020 and agreed to do their best to reach consensus on the rules of fair competition as soon as possible.
On March 28, the China Europe (Wuhan) train bound for Duisburg, Germany, departed from the Wuhan Central Station of China Railway Group. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu
Embrace development opportunities with greater opening and seek mutual benefit and win-win with better cooperation. Open cooperation is China's commitment, and it is also China's action. (Reporter: Fan Yu; photography: Xie Huanchi, Fang Zhe, Tan Jin, Zhu Wei; editors: Hao Weiwei, Cheng Dayu, Zhou Xiaotian; drawing: Chen Shan; produced by Xinhua News Agency International Department)