The Star: April 19, 2018

24 Thursday April 19 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
China Pledges for
Further Openingup
Boosting Global
Confidence
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The Star
The recent trade conflicts between US
and China have aroused worries that the
unilateral protectionist measures of US
government might incur trade wars between
the largest two economies and hence impede
the global economic recovery and growth
still overshadowed by the financial crisis
originated from Wall Street ten years ago.
While certain major advanced economies
resorted to isolationism and protectionism,
China has made new pledges to open its door wider. The Boao Forum, also
known as the “Asian Davos”, recently convened in Hainnan Province of China,
has boosted the confidence in global economic cooperation as Chinese President
Xi Jinping in his key-note speech announced substantial measures to further
expand China’s economic reform and opening-up.
China’s pledges have been warmly applauded by international stakeholders as
good news in the face of anti-globalization sentiment. Though the unveiling of
these pledges have little to do with the ongoing trade conflicts with the US, it
reflects China’s consistent determination to push forward trade and investment
facilitation and seek win-win outcomes with other countries.
The new measures touch upon several key aspects. First, China will significantly
broaden market access. It will ease restrictions on the establishment of foreign
financial institutions in China, accelerate the opening-up of its insurance
industry, and reduce limits on foreign investment in manufacturing industries.
Second, China will reduce tariffs and expand imports. China will significantly
lower the import tariffs for vehicles and some other products. On the other hand,
it is hoped that the imposed restrictions on normal trade of high-tech products
with China could be lifted. Third, China will strengthen IPR protection. China
is re-instituting the State Intellectual Property Office to step up law enforcement
and significantly raise the cost for offenders. Fourth, China is committed
to create more attractive investment environment for foreign investors. The
government will remove obstacles that prevent the market from playing a
decisive role in resource allocation. It will complete the revision of the negative
list on foreign investment in the first half of the year and implement across the
board the management system based on pre-establishment national treatment
and negative list. These measures expected to be implemented soon will inspire
confidence in China’s continued economic growth as well as injecting new
driving force for global economy.
It is worth noting that Hainan Province, the venue of the annual forum, which is
famous for its sunny beach resorts nowadays, used to be one of the most remote
and backward parts of China. The province owes its economic miracle to reform
and opening-up. The island was established as a Special Economic Zone 30
years ago, and has now become one of China’s many portals to the wider world.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launching of reform and openingup
policy in China. The policy has fundamentally changed China, and the
experience China has learnt from its 40 years of phenomenal economic rise is to
keep open-minded and embrace the world. In the global village where interests
of different countries are increasingly intertwined, open systems are the best
course of action.
The economic cooperation between China and New Zealand has fully
demonstrated the benefits of trade and investment facilitation. The two
economies are highly complementary to each other and free trade has brought
the comparative advantages into full play. The bilateral trade volume has
increased from 1.7 million NZ dollars in 1972 to more than 24 billion last year,
bringing tangible benefits to enterprises and consumers in both countries.
And the negotiation on upgrading bilateral trade agreement has so far kept
good momentum. Both countries also firmly support the multi-trading system
symbolized by WTO, and have reinforced cooperation in APEC and other
multilateral frameworks. As globalization is inevitable and irreversible, the
only future for all countries and peoples on this planet is a shared one. To build
a world of greater prosperity is a collective task that demands the input and
responsibility of all global stakeholders.
Mr. Wang Zhijian, Chinese Consul General in Christchurch
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