China’s economic diplomacy pursues mutual benefits, win-win results

CHINA is the world’s second-largest economy, largest trader in goods, and top recipient of foreign investment.

The Chinese economy is deeply integrated with the global economy, and the country’s economic diplomacy has become an important part of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.

China’s economic diplomacy not only serves the development of China, but also safeguards the common interests of the international community; it pursues mutual benefits and win-win results.

“Opening up” is a key word of China’s economic diplomacy. In the past more than 20 years after China’s accession into the WTO, China’s overall tariff level has dropped to below 7.4 per cent from 15.3 per cent, much lower than what the country promised when entering the organisation.

Last year, China’s annual foreign trade value, seeing improvement in its scale, quality and efficiency, for the first time exceeded 40 trillion yuan (about $5.94 trillion). The country has remained the world’s top trading nation in goods for six years in a row.

Amid mounting global protectionism, China has made important contributions to building an open world economy with concrete actions.

In the next step, the country will steadily expand institutional opening-up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards, further widen market access, reasonably shorten the negative lists for foreign investment access, and improve the system of pre-establish- ment national treatment plus a negative list for foreign investment, so as to foster a market-oriented and worldclass business environment governed by a sound legal framework.

China has worked to build a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas, and to promote the negotiation and conclusion of high-standard free trade agreements.

Since establishing the first pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in 2013, the country has so far set up 21 pilot FTZs and the Hainan Free Trade Port.

China will advance its free trade agreement strategy to effectively connect domestic and foreign markets and relevant resources, in terms of “expanding scope, improving quality and raising efficiency,” aiming to provide institutional support for its high-level opening-up and to serve the building of a new development paradigm.

The country has signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions. The volume of trade between China and its free trade partners accounts for about 35 per cent of the country’s total foreign trade.

China has made joint efforts with relevant parties on