By Zhong Sheng
Against the backdrop of increasing uncertainties and destabilizing factors in the world economy, China has taken firm and strong actions to open wider, which is of significance for boosting confidence in the global market.
China ranks 31st out of 190 economies in terms of ease of doing business, up from the 46th last year, according to a newly-released report by the World Bank. It is the second year in a row that the country has ranked among the top 10 economies in the world that improved the most on the ease of doing business.
Such rankings fully demonstrate that China has gained a vote of confidence from the international community for its reform and opening-up and economic prospects.
China has made pragmatic efforts against difficulties to improve its business environment. Since the beginning of this year, the country has introduced a series of policies and measures to create a more attractive business environment.
In March, it passed the foreign investment law to provide stronger protection for overseas investors. Later in June, the country rolled out new negative lists for foreign investment market access and a revised catalogue of industries that encourage foreign investment to further open up, both of which went into effect starting from July 30.
China also set up a new batch of pilot free trade zones in the six provincial regions in August, including Shandong, Jiangsu and Yunnan.
In October, the country revised the regulations on management of foreign-invested insurance and of foreign-invested banking firms to further open up its insurance and banking sectors to foreign investors.
A few days ago, China made public a regulation on optimizing business environment to legalize effective practices of streamlining administration, delegating powers, strengthening regulation and improving services in the past few years.
Aligning with advanced international levels, the regulation specifies the basic principles and directions for fostering a fair and equal business environment for all market players, including both domestic and foreign companies.
The new policy will ensure equal market access and protect fair competition, Reuters commented.
China is determined to deepen reform and open wider to the outside world. As a contributor to and a beneficiary of economic globalization, China will remain steadfast in pursuing the path of peaceful development and an opening-up strategy of mutual benefit to continue adding impetus to an open world economy, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a congratulatory letter to the fourth Understanding China Conference that opened on Oct. 26 in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province.
China will work with other countries to promote economic globalization and make it more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, he said.
By creating a law-based, internationalized and business-friendly business environment, China is able to form a new pattern of all-round opening-up. Increasingly, the country is playing a leading role in further integrating into the world economy and securing common development with other countries.
Martin Jacques, a British scholar, thinks that China contrasts sharply with some western countries in terms of the attitude towards openness and globalization, as China is becoming more and more open, while some western countries are showing the opposite tendency.
A sound business environment makes the economy more productive, competitive and attractive. With a constantly optimizing business environment, China and foreign companies have achieved more win-win results.
While global foreign direct investment slid for the third consecutive year in 2018, 30,871 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established in China in the first three quarters of this year, with the actual use of foreign capital increasing by 6.5 percent year on year.
According to a report from the Ministry of Commerce, foreign-invested enterprises, which account for less than 3 percent of the total number of enterprises in China, contribute nearly half to the country’s foreign trade, a quarter of the output value and profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size, and one fifth of the tax revenue. They have become a vital part of China’s open economy.
U.S. electric automaker Tesla Inc. said the trial production of its Shanghai gigafactory ahead of schedule is a major reason for the company’s better-than-expected financial results in the third quarter.
China’s opening-up gathers strong momentum. Earlier this month, the first Qingdao Multinationals Summit was successfully held, where more than 100 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list shared their vision about China’s opportunities.
The 2nd China International Import Expo, which will be held from Nov. 5 to 10, has attracted more countries, regions and enterprises to participate than the first one.
China is opening wider to the world and taking active actions to create new opportunities for the development of all countries and inject strong impetus into the world.
(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
