[ifeng.com] WANG Xiaosong: From Making Friends Extensively to Opening China International Import Expo

On November 5, 2018, the first China International Import Expo was held in Shanghai, and more than 3,000 exhibitors from more than 130 countries and regions attended the conference. This world-famous exposition is an important milestone in China's reform and opening up process, and it is a new measure to expand imports and promote a new round of high-level opening up. Xi Jinping said in his keynote speech that opening up has become a distinctive symbol of contemporary China. China has continuously expanded its opening to the outside world, not only developing itself, but also benefiting the world. The door to China's opening will not be closed, it will only grow bigger and bigger.

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee held at the end of 1978 opened the prelude to China's reform and opening up. Since then, the door has been fully opened from the coast to the interior, from the south to the north, and from the east to the central and western regions. Reform and opening up have allowed China to seize the opportunity of history and embark on the road of rapid economic growth. After nearly 40 years of openness, China's economic strength and overall national strength have improved significantly, and it has also been more closely integrated with the world economy. In 2006, China became the world's largest foreign exchange reserve country. In 2009, it became the largest exporter and the second largest importer. In 2010, it became the world's second largest economy. Opening to the outside world has not only become an important factor in promoting China's rapid economic growth, and become an important engine for the growth of the world economy.

At the beginning of reform and opening up, China faced a serious problem of lack of funds. The primary goal of developing an export-oriented economy was to export and increase foreign reserve. Therefore, all walks of life in China naturally adhered to the mercantilist thinking of “rewarding export and restricting import,” and spared no effort to expand exports. Founded in 1957, the "China Export Commodities Fair", the "Canton Fair", has renewed its vitality after the reform and opening up. The scale of transactions has been continuously expanded, the trading commodities have been continuously enriched, and the level of transactions has been continuously improved. It has become the No.1 platform of promoting China's exports and the window, epitome and logo of China's foreign trade. Thanks to the efforts of all walks of life, China’s foreign trade, especially export trade, has made great progress in the past 40 years. Not only has the scale of exports been rising, but the structure of export products has been continuously optimized, and the technological content of export products has been continuously improved. The allocation of resources is continuously optimized, and the income level and quality of life of the people are also constantly improving in the process.

However, the rapid growth of exports has brought about a series of negative shocks. The practice of “rewarding export and restricting import” has also enabled China to accumulate huge foreign exchange reserves and bring challenges to national asset security. As a result, all walks of life in China have also recognized that for the “world factory”, import and export are equally important. Moderate expansion of imports can reduce trade friction, ease energy resource constraints, promote technological progress and industrial upgrading, and meet the growing domestic consumption to achieve balanced development of foreign trade.

For this reason, in 2007, the “Canton Fair” was officially renamed as “China Import and Export Fair”, which marked that China’s various circles have gradually abandoned the mercantilist thinking and began to attach equal importance to imports and exports. Ten years later, in May 2017, President Xi Jinping announced at the "One Belt One Road" International Cooperation Summit that China will hold China International Import Expo from 2018, which marks a new journey for China's foreign trade and indicates the Chinese government’s firm determination to expand imports to raise the level of openness to the outside world.

Expanding imports is an inevitable requirement for promoting balanced development of foreign trade. Comparative advantage is the foundation of international trade and the source of international trade interests. Countries need to "give and take" to give full play to their comparative advantages. Excessive emphasis on exports can guarantee China's earning of foreign exchange, but the increase in foreign exchange reserves does not mean the improvement of national welfare. Instead, it shows that the fruits of China's manufacturing hard work are used by other countries, but Chinese consumers have not been able to enjoy those of other countries. In addition, foreign exchange reserves held in the form of US dollars are also at risk of exchange rate fluctuations. Moderate expansion of imports can better integrate China into the world's production system and division of labor, and exert greater comparative advantage to correct trade imbalances and obtain more trade benefits.

Expanding imports is an important measure to meet people's needs for a better life. When the barriers to import trade are high, the cost of Chinese consumers purchasing imported high-quality goods is too high. In the context of current income increase and consumption upgrading, if the trade barriers are not lowered, domestic consumers will realize the form of overseas shopping or purchasing. . At this time, by lowering the import tariff rate of consumer goods, Chinese consumers can buy high-quality international goods in China, which can not only reduce the trade deficit of goods, but also reduce the trade surplus of goods and improve the level of consumer welfare.

Expand the necessary means for import promotion to promote industrial upgrading. China is driving high-quality development, and its key is to achieve more efficient growth through innovation. On the one hand, encouraging the import of advanced technology, instruments and equipment, in line with the domestic industrial upgrading and overcoming the short-board needs, can directly improve the production level and technology of Chinese enterprises; on the other hand, expanding imports can strengthen competition and the effect of survival of the fittest, force domestic enterprises to continuously improve the level of innovation and production efficiency.

The first session of the Expo is only a new starting point. China will launch a series of measures to expand imports in the future, so that the opening of the door will be bigger and the level of openness will continue to increase.