Great achievements of China's reform and opening up

Thanks to the initiative of Deng Xiaoping, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1978 marked the beginning of China's historic journey of reform and opening up. Our endeavor started off from the rural areas and then spread to cities, and from pilot programs to nationwide projects, from economic restructuring to the comprehensive deepening of reform. Reform and opening up over the past four decades has made a great impact on China. With united and determined efforts, the Chinese people have added a glorious chapter to the developing epic story of the country and the nation.

— Over the last four decades, Chinese people have significantly enhanced productivity in China through hard work, and through their unyielding spirit. The world rewards those who work hard, and gives a good harvest to those that sow at the right time. With endevours focused on national development and an unwavering commitment to reform and opening up, Chinese people have brought enormous changes to the country. China has become the world's second largest economy, the largest industrial producer, the largest trader of goods, and the holder of the largest foreign exchange reserves. Over the past 40 years, China's GDP has averaged an annual growth rate of around 9.5 percent in comparable prices and its foreign trade has registered an annual growth of 14.5 percent in U.S. dollar. The Chinese people have emerged from living a life characterized by shortages and poverty and are now enjoying material abundance and a moderately prosperous life. According to current UN standards, more than 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total over the period of reform and opening up.

— Over the last four decades, the Chinese people have pursued the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and done so through determined exploration and with a pioneering spirit. The Chinese people simultaneously have a keen awareness of national realities and a global vision. We champion independence and self-reliance while embracing openness and win-win cooperation. We uphold the socialist system while adhering to the principles of reform to develop the socialist market economy. As we "cross the river by feeling the stones," we have strengthened top-level planning. We have studied emerging new circumstances, addressed new problems as they came along and summed up experience accordingly, thus blazing a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The successful practice of the Chinese people is a proof that there is more than one path leading to modernization. With the right direction and with unremitting efforts, a number of different roads will take us to Rome.

— Over the last four decades, the Chinese people have kept forging ahead, demonstrating the national strength through keeping pace with the progress of the times. China is a nation which values truth and always approaches issues with an open mind. Our efforts to open up our minds have advanced side by side with our mission of reform and opening up. Our search for new ideas and desire to practically experiment have been mutually reinforcing. Such is the great strength one derives from having a guiding vision. China has courageously engaged in self-revolution and self-reforms, and constantly made improvements to the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It is one that has kept on overcoming institutional and systemic obstacles to development. This is the source of our great strength. Ours is an enterprising and pioneering nation with unprecedented motivation, initiative and creativity. Such is the strength of the 1.3 billion Chinese people driving history forward as masters of their nation and real heroes.

— Over the last four decades, the Chinese people have embraced the world with open arms and actively contributed our share to the world's prosperity, development and growth. Reform and opening up is a great process that has seen not just China but the world achieve development and progress together. The Chinese people have made opening up a fundamental national policy. They have pursued development with an open mind and accomplished a great transition from seclusion and semi-seclusion to comprehensive openness. In this process, China has met its responsibilities as a major country. From "bringing in" to "going global," from WTO accession to the Belt and Road Initiative, China has made a significant contribution to mitigating the Asian financial crisis of 1998 and the global financial crisis a decade later. Contributing over 30 percent of global growth in recent years, China has become a key anchor and driver for the world economy and a positive force in advancing the cause of global peace and development.

Today, the Chinese people can say with great pride that reform and opening up, China's second revolution if you like, has not only profoundly changed the country but also greatly influenced the whole world.

An ancient Chinese classic teaches that heaven has its own law and those who embrace this will prosper. China's reform and opening up meets its people's aspiration for development, innovation and a better life. It also complements the global trend toward development, cooperation and peace. As such, China's reform and opening up can and will continue to be a great success!

Four decades of reform and opening up has given us valuable inspirations. The most important one is that for any country or nation to achieve rejuvenation, they must follow the onward natural flow of history and the trend of the times in their pursuit of progress and development.

Suggestions on the development of human society in the future

The world is undergoing a new round of major development, great change and profound readjustment. Humankind still faces much instability and uncertainty. The new round of the technological and industrial revolution brings fresh opportunities but also presents unprecedented challenges. In some countries and regions, people are still living in the shadow of war and conflict. A great many people, including the old, women and children, are suffering from hunger and poverty. Climate change and major communicable diseases remain formidable challenges. Humanity has a major choice to make between openness and isolation, and between progress and retrogression.

In this complex and constantly changing world, where are we heading and where is the future of Asia in all of this? To answer these questions which are so fundamental questions to our time, we must not let our vision be clouded and unclear. Instead, we must dispel the clouds to see the sun, as we say in Chinese, so as to have a keen grasp of the law of history and the trend of the world.

We live at a time where the trend is overwhelmingly toward peace and cooperation. In a world like this aspiring for peaceful development, the Cold War and zero-sum mentality looks even more out of place. Putting oneself on a pedestal or trying to make oneself immune from adverse developments will get nowhere. Only peaceful development and cooperation can truly bring optimal results.

We also live at a time where the trend is overwhelmingly toward openness and connectivity. Human history shows that openness leads to progress while seclusion means one gets left behind. The world has become a global village where all our interests are intertwined and our economic and social progress interconnected. To promote common prosperity and development in today's world, we have no choice but to pursue greater connectivity and integrated development.

We also live at a time where the trend is overwhelmingly toward reform and innovation. A Chinese philosopher recognized as early as 2,500 years ago that one doesn't have to follow a beaten path if one wishes to benefit the people and one doesn't have to observe old conventions if one wishes to get things done. Reform and innovation are the fundamental driving force of human progress. Those who reject them will be left behind and assigned to the dustbin of history.

To follow the trend of our times and advance the well-being of all people, I proposed the initiative to build a community with a shared future for humankind. I have since had many in-depth discussions with various parties. I am glad that this proposal has been welcomed and endorsed by a growing number of countries and their peoples. It has also been written into important UN documents. I hope that people around the world will work together toward this community with a shared future for humanity. I hope this will make Asia and the world peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, open and beautiful.

— With the future in mind, we need to treat each other with respect and as equals. We should uphold the five principles of peaceful coexistence, respect the social system and development path independently chosen by each country, respect each other's core interests and major concerns. We must follow a new approach to state-to-state relations featuring dialogue rather than confrontation, and partnership instead of military alliance. We must refrain from seeking dominance and reject the zero-sum game. We must refrain from demeaning or undermining our neighbors and reject power politics or hegemony with the strong bullying the weak. Instead, we must properly manage differences and work together for enduring peace.

— With the future in mind, we need to promote dialogue and share responsibility for this. We should act on a unified vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and firmly uphold the international order and system underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. An integrated approach should be taken to counter traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and coordination about this should be enhanced both bilaterally and multilaterally. We must ensure that various security mechanisms are coordinated with each other in an inclusive and complementary manner rather than undercutting each other. This will lead us to a lasting universal and common security.

— With the future in mind, we need to engage in cooperation for win-win results. We should stay committed to openness, connectivity and mutual benefits, building an open global economy, and reinforcing cooperation within the G20, APEC and other multilateral frameworks. We should promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, upholding the multilateral trading system, and jointly fostering new technologies, new industries and new forms and models of business. This way, we will make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

— With the future in mind, we need to uphold inclusiveness and seek harmony without uniformity. We must strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in culture, education, tourism, youth, media, health, poverty reduction and other fields. We need to promote mutual learning among civilizations as this means will help us build bridges of friendship, drive social progress, and safeguard peace for the region and beyond.

— With the future in mind, we need to treat nature with respect and treasure our planet. It is important to have a vision of green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and respect, accommodate and protect nature. We need to increase exchanges and cooperation, share experience and jointly meet challenges in climate change, environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction. We must make further progress along the path of sustainable development featuring increased production, higher living standards and healthy ecosystems so that our future generations can enjoy blue skies, clear water and lush mountains.

China's major measures to deepen reform and expand openness

The 19th CPC National Congress held last October ushered socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era and drew a blueprint for turning China into a great modern socialist country. This new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics marks a new chapter in China's rejuvenation and its effort to create shared prosperity with the rest of the world.

Each age and generation have their own challenges and missions. China has come a long way, but it has to overcome new challenges on its way ahead. In this new era, the Chinese nation will continue to improve itself through reform. We will stay committed to advancing reform in all respects, and prevail over whatever challenges that may lie ahead. We will tackle longstanding problems with courage and resolve, and break the impediments of vested interests to see reform properly followed through. The Chinese people will continue to take bold steps in innovation in order to boost development. Following the people-centered development philosophy and the new development vision, we will modernize our economic system, deepen the supply-side structural reform, and implement at a faster pace the strategies of innovation-driven development, rural revitalization and coordinated regional development. We will continue to work on targeted poverty alleviation and promote social equity and justice to give our people a greater sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security. The Chinese people will continue to increase in openness and expand their field of cooperation. We will stay committed to the strategy of opening up for win-win results. We will pay equal attention to "bringing in" and "going global," and break new ground in opening China further through links running eastward and westward, across land and over sea, throughout the world. We will adopt policies to promote high-standard liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and explore the opening of free trade ports with Chinese characteristics. The Chinese people will continue to work together with the rest of the world and make greater contribution to humanity. China will stick to the path of peaceful development, actively pursue global partnerships, firmly support multilateralism, and take an active part in reforming the global governance system. By doing so, we will be able to build a new model of international relations and promote a community with a shared future for mankind.

No matter how much progress China has made in development, our country will not threaten anyone else, or attempt to overturn the existing international system, or seek spheres of influence for us to dominate. China will stay as determined as ever to build world peace, contribute to global prosperity and uphold the international order.

A comprehensive study of world development trajectories shows that economic globalization is an irreversible trend. In line with this conclusion, I emphasized in my report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China will continue to adhere to its fundamental national policy of opening up and pursue development with its door wide open. I wish to make it clear to all that China's door of opening up will not be closed. It will only open even wider!

What has happened proves that opening up was key to China's economic growth over the past 40 years and in the same vein, high-quality development of China's economy in the future can only be achieved with even greater openness. Opening up is a strategic decision made by China based on its need for development as well as a concrete action taken by China to move economic globalization forward in a way that benefits people across the world.

China will adopt the following major measures to pursue further opening:

First, we will significantly broaden market access. A number of landmark measures are to be launched this year. On services, financial services in particular, an important announcement was made at the end of last year on measures to raise foreign equity caps in the banking, securities and insurance industries. We will ensure that these measures are implemented and at the same time make more moves toward further opening, including accelerating the opening up of the insurance industry, easing restrictions on the establishment of foreign financial institutions in China and expanding their business scope, and opening up more areas of cooperation between our domestic and foreign financial markets. On manufacturing, we have basically opened up this sector with a small number of exceptions for automobiles, ships and aircraft. Now these industries are also in a position to open up. Going forward, we will ease as soon as possible foreign equity restrictions in these industries, automobiles in particular.

Second, we will create a more attractive investment environment. Investment environment is like air; only fresh air attracts more investment from the outside. China relied mainly on providing favorable policies for foreign investors in the past, but now we will have to rely more on improving the investment environment. We will enhance the alignment with international economic and trading rules, increase transparency, strengthen property rights protection, uphold the rule of law, encourage competition and oppose monopoly. We established a host of new agencies such as the State Administration for Market Regulation as part of a major reform of government institutions this past March, the purpose of which is to remove the systemic and institutional obstacles that prevent the market from playing a decisive role in resources allocation and enable the government to better play its role. In the first six months of this year, we will finish the revision of the negative list on foreign investment and implement across the board the management system based on the pre-establishment national treatment and negative list.

Third, we will strengthen protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). This is the centerpiece of the system for improving property rights protection, and it would provide the biggest boost to the competitiveness of the Chinese economy. Stronger IPR protection is the basic requirement of foreign enterprises, and even more so of Chinese enterprises. This year, we are re-instituting the State Intellectual Property Office to strengthen the ranks of its officers, step up law enforcement, significantly raise the cost for offenders and fully unlock the deterrent effect of relevant laws. We encourage normal technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and protect the lawful IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China. At the same time, we hope foreign governments will also improve protection of Chinese IPR.

Fourth, we will take the initiative to expand imports. Domestic demand is the fundamental driving force for China's economic development, and it is an essential requirement for us to meet the people's ever-growing need for a better life. China does not seek trade surplus; we have a genuine desire to increase imports and achieve greater balance of international payments under the current account. This year, we will significantly lower the import tariffs for automobiles and reduce import tariffs for some other products. We will import more products that are competitive and needed by our people. We will seek faster progress toward joining the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. We hope developed countries will stop imposing restrictions on normal and reasonable trade of hi-tech products and relax export controls on such trade with China. This November, we will hold the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai. This is not just another expo in an ordinary sense, but a major policy initiative and commitment taken of our own accord to open up the Chinese market. Friends from around the world are welcome to participate in the Expo.

I wish to emphasize that with regard to all those major initiatives of opening up that I have just announced, we have every intention to translate them into reality, sooner rather than later. We want the outcomes of our opening up efforts to deliver benefits as soon as possible to all enterprises and people in China and around the world. I am confident that with these efforts outlined above, China's financial sector will be much more competitive, our capital market will continue to enjoy healthy development, the building of a system of modern industries will be accelerated, our market environment will be greatly improved, and IPR will be effectively protected. In short, China will enter a new phase of opening up.

Five years ago, I put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, more than 80 countries and international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with us. The BRI may be China's idea, but its opportunities and outcomes are going to benefit the world. China has no geopolitical calculations, seeks no exclusionary blocs and imposes no business deals on others. It must be pointed out that as the BRI is a new initiative, it is perfectly natural for there to be different views. As long as the parties embrace the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, we can surely enhance cooperation and resolve differences. This way, we can make the BRI the broadest platform for international cooperation in keeping with the trend of economic globalization and to the greater benefit of all our peoples.

Editor's note: The speech delivered by President Xi Jinping showcases China's firmness to push ahead with reform and opening up in the complex and changing international landscape and highlights again that China, Asia and even the world must achieve prosperous development through reform, opening up and innovation. The speech illustrates China's proposals and sets the tone of a new round of reform and opening up and win-win cooperation. Put forward by President Xi, the five proposals of bearing the future in mind are China's policy options on pushing ahead to build a community with a shared future and jointly creating new prospects of Asia and the world. The four measures to be adopted by China fully showcase the country's resolve and efforts to achieve higher-level reform and opening up. We firmly believe that China will adhere to opening up and win-win cooperation, make reform and innovation dauntlessly and strive steadily toward the goal of building a community with a shared future to embrace a bright future of Asia and the world with the rest of the international community.