[Building an Asia-Pacific Community and Promoting Common Prosperity] Jointly Building an Open Asia-Pacific Economy That Benefits All and Is Inclusive

CCTV.com reports (Xinwen Lianbo): At the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, President Xi Jinping stated that we must remain true to APEC’s founding purpose of promoting economic growth and improving people’s well-being, continue sharing opportunities and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes through open development, advance economic globalization that benefits all and is inclusive, and build an Asia-Pacific community.

Openness is the lifeblood of Asia-Pacific cooperation. Since the beginning of this year, China has created more new opportunities for its Asia-Pacific partners through high-standard opening up, continually contributing Chinese strength to building an open Asia-Pacific economy.

At the Youyiguan border crossing in Pingxiang, Guangxi, trucks carrying goods from APEC economies including Malaysia and Vietnam clear customs in seconds; in Chile’s fields, Chinese smart agricultural drones are helping accelerate the digital transformation of local agriculture.

Today, the Asia-Pacific, with nearly 40% of the world’s population, generates more than 60% of global economic output and nearly 50% of total trade, and contributes 70% of global economic growth.

A series of impressive results vividly illustrates the changes openness has brought to the Asia-Pacific.

As early as 2013, President Xi Jinping incisively pointed out: “China cannot develop without the Asia-Pacific, and the Asia-Pacific cannot prosper without China.” During the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing, President Xi emphasized that openness is an important prerequisite for sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific, calling for efforts to “keep the doors of the Asia-Pacific open to the whole world at all times.” For more than a decade, despite headwinds against economic globalization, China has never wavered in its commitment to openness and cooperation.

From steadfastly advancing the process toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific to jointly drawing up a blueprint for connectivity; from advocating an open and integrated framework for Asia-Pacific cooperation to proposing the joint development of an open Asia-Pacific economy that benefits all and is inclusive—Chinese initiatives and actions have left a distinctive “Chinese imprint” on the course of Asia-Pacific cooperation. During last year’s APEC meeting, President Xi Jinping put forward five proposals with strategic foresight, including jointly safeguarding the multilateral trading system and jointly creating an open regional economic environment, further pointing APEC’s open cooperation in the right direction.

Ideas guide practice. China’s high-standard opening up is helping make the Asia-Pacific the world’s most active economic region in global trade. Following the launch of island-wide special customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port, cross-border business involving natural rubber raw materials from APEC partners including Vietnam and Thailand has continued to expand, supported by the free trade port’s preferential tariff policies.

Upholding open regionalism, China is actively promoting the development of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes 12 APEC economies, has entered into force and been implemented in full, establishing the world’s largest free trade area; 15 other APEC economies have signed free trade agreements with China, and the regional free trade network is becoming increasingly comprehensive.

The Asia-Pacific’s level of openness continues to rise today, with average tariffs falling from 16.9% to 5.1%, and the share of tariff lines with zero tariffs increasing substantially from 27.3% to 48.9%.

Today, China is broadening the framework for Asia-Pacific cooperation through openness and integration. More than half of APEC economies currently participate in Belt and Road cooperation.

In recent days, the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System, a cross-border rail transit project between Singapore and Malaysia for which China has provided technology and participated in construction, has entered integrated testing and commissioning ahead of its opening. Once operational, it will greatly facilitate cross-border commuting for people in Singapore and Malaysia.

Alongside the “hard connectivity” of infrastructure, “soft connectivity” in trade rules, information, and data continues to advance.

The Asia-Pacific Model E-Port Network, whose establishment China first proposed within APEC, now covers 13 APEC economies. It has provided a positive demonstration in areas including data connectivity and mutual customs-clearance assistance to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Today, China is advancing institutional opening up in greater depth, continuing to shorten its negative list for foreign investment access, expanding the opening of its service sector, and drawing on the strengths of its vast market to bring more opportunities for cooperation to APEC economies.

As the tides surge across the Asia-Pacific, we set sail together in the same boat. At a new historical starting point, China will work hand in hand with Asia-Pacific economies, continue expanding high-standard opening up, and create a brighter future for the Asia-Pacific region.