[Paper People]:Jia Wenshan: The New Engine That Drives World Economic Growth

Despite the Sino-US trade friction, China’s foreign trade performance remained strong in July this year. According to China Customs statistics, foreign trade exports increased by 6% in July, significantly higher than the growth rate of trade exports in the previous months; the import growth rate was as high as 21.9%. There are many factors supporting the good performance of China's foreign trade. The most important one is the promotion of the “Belt and Road” Initiative construction.

The joint construction of the “Belt and Road” has greatly improved the level of China's trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. This year is the fifth anniversary of the “Belt and Road”. Not long ago, the “semi-annual report” of the Chinese economy showed that GDP grew by 6.8% and urban unemployment rate was below 5% for several months. China is still one of the best-developed, most potential and most resilient countries in the world. One of the important driving forces for China's current sustained and positive economic development is the construction of the “Belt and Road” that has achieved results. In the past five years, China’s trade in goods with the “Belt and Road” countries has accumulated more than US$5 trillion, and total foreign direct investment has exceeded US$60 billion. Especially for the vast inland areas, the “Belt and Road” project is becoming a new regional economy driving force. As early as 2017, the International Monetary Fund predicted that the “Belt and Road” will become an important engine for driving world economic growth.

The “Belt and Road” began to enter the stage of rooting and flowering. The first five years of the “Belt and Road” have already passed the stage of building the base. At present, China has signed a “One Belt, One Road” cooperation agreement with 80 countries, and 87 countries have joined the AIIB as the main financial investment platform of the “Belt and Road”. According to the “One Belt and One Road” project evaluation report released by the “One Belt, One Road” 100 People Forum in December 2017, the “One Belt, One Road” construction scale covers a total population of about 4.4 billion, with a total economic output of 21 trillion US dollars. The population is 63% and the global economy is nearly one-third. Countries along the “Belt and Road” are dominated by new economies and developing countries, and are now among the fastest growing regions for global trade and cross-border investment. If the first five years of the “Belt and Road” are the cultivation period, then the next five to ten years should be the forest protection and pruning period, and it will also become the “Belt and Road” flowering result and harvest period.

The “Belt and Road” builds a practical platform for the community of human destiny. Looking ahead, the tasks and challenges are arduous, but the outlook will get better and better. The Special Management Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2018 Edition) issued by the State Council has entered into force on July 30, 2018, marking that China has officially opened a huge market of as least several trillion or even 10 trillion US dollars. It will attract trillions of dollars in investment from all over the world, including the United States. The deep opening of the domestic market, which is based on the integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Pearl River Delta, and the construction of the “Belt and Road” will enter a high-frequency internal and external interaction, complementarity and complement each other, and gradually become the common market of connecting China and the world, which is transnational and cross-regional, benefit the people of the countries along the line, and promote the building of a community of human destiny. In short, adhering to the "joint communication, joint construction and sharing", further promoting the "One Belt and One Road", in line with the inherent requirements of the global governance system reform, provides a new ideas and new programs for improving the global governance system.

(The author is the research fellow of NADS)

ORIGINAL TEXT: http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2018-09/04/content_1879143.htm