China continues to make significant strides in opening up its economy and fostering international cooperation. Wei Jianguo, China’s former vice-minister of commerce, spoke at the 2024 Global Digital Trade Conference in Wuhan, Hubei province. He stated that China must align with high-level international economic and trade rules to expand its market share in digital trade.
We must introduce provisions on the liberalization of trade in digital products and services from regions like Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea as soon as possible,” Wei said. He added that China needs to accelerate institutional opening-up with respect to rules, regulations, management, and standards to establish a unified national digital market. Wei emphasized that China should launch more public products for digital trade to increase its presence in international digital trade.
He noted that now is the best time for China to strengthen international cooperation in the digital economy. China’s digital trade was valued at 4 trillion yuan ($552.376 billion) in 2020, showing a 9.3 percent year-on-year growth and accounting for 38.6 percent of GDP. It is expected that the digital economy will reach 60 trillion yuan by 2025, accounting for more than 50 percent of GDP.
Cross-border e-commerce reached 1.2 trillion yuan in the first half of this year, with a 10.5 percent year-on-year growth.
China’s digital trade growth trajectory
China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports have more than doubled in five years, from 1.06 trillion yuan in 2018 to 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023.
China’s digital trade will grow rapidly in the next five years, driving the development of the entire Chinese digital economy and contributing to the fourth industrial revolution,” Wei concluded. China’s commitment to high-level opening-up was also highlighted at the seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. Economists and business leaders attending the event noted that China continues to make significant progress in deepening reform and expanding high-level opening-up, playing a pivotal role in driving global economic growth.
The World Openness Report 2024, released at the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, showed that China’s openness index rose to 0.7596 in 2023, up from 0.6789 in 2008. The nation ranked 38th in terms of openness among 129 economies in 2023, one place up from 2022. Global entrepreneurs expressed strong optimism about China’s prospects in the long run.
Anu Rathninde, president of Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific, said the company has witnessed new growth unleashed through opening-up and modernization since it entered the Chinese market. The seventh CIIE attracted the participation of about 3,500 overseas exhibitors, including a record 297 industry leaders and Fortune Global 500 companies. At the 31st APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru, Zhang Yansheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, discussed that Asia-Pacific countries advocate open regionalism and oppose trade protectionism.
He emphasized that China, as an important growth pole of the global economy, is significantly contributing to the growth of both the regional and global economies through credible efforts to expand domestic demand and imports.
