China is hosting the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. This event takes place from November 4 to 10 where 3000 businessmen from 127 countries are expected to participate, a number higher than previous editions. Despite the pandemic, this event reflects the trust of the global community in China and the resilience of the Chinese people against all odds. At the opening ceremony, China’s immense contribution towards global economic and social wellbeing was highlighted.

Since its inception, CIIE has become an enabling platform to showcase investment projects and exchange ideas to boost trade in goods and services. It has evolved into an initiative for public good where people from multiple cultures and nationalities come together for cooperation, trade, investment promotion, and connectivity. 

An interesting component of this expo is the mixture of online and physical exhibitions. A special zone has been dedicated to the theme of global health and pandemic prevention, which attracted high-ranking companies of Fortune Global 500. China has taken adequate steps for the expansion of trade in goods and services that outnumbers earlier average.

These steps taken include scaling down the National Negative List for foreign direct investment, increasing the number of pilot trade-free zones, the conclusion of the Master Plan for the Development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and further economic opening-up. China is recording increasing trade of high standard goods, intellectual property rights, and Belt and Road cooperation agreements. 

China’s commitment to multilateralism and cooperation was also stressed. In contrast with the governments that are having growing tendencies of trade protectionism and unilateralism, China called on the global community to take collective efforts to boost trade, governance, and rules. It is stressed countries need to act together for the consolidation of international trade regimes rather than dismantling them. The world collectively should come together and pursue a vision of global governance driven by intensive consultation, mutual contribution, and shared benefits.

This year, China is celebrating its glorious presence in the World Trade Organization. China has fulfilled the promises it made while joining WTO in 2001 and seeks a multilateral system with WTO at the core. Since 2001, the tariffs in China have been dropped from 15.3% to 7.4 %, lower than the committed threshold of 9.8%. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, China continued its trade and distributed billions of masks, protective suits, testing kits, and vaccines, a demonstration of promised openness and inclusiveness. 

This year marks the beginning of China’s fourteenth Five-year Plan. The country has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and addressed absolute poverty. In the years to come, the country is expected to set new ideas of development.

It is worth mentioning that China has about 1.4 billion in population, which is an attractive market for global investors. Rather than promoting any secrecy and exploitation in trade agreements, China will keep its doors open with a welcoming attitude to the rest of the world. The large network of trade will not only benefit China but also realize the global objective of sustainable development.  

China’s global wisdom is to take the glorious path of prosperity together and not alone. This is the best way for global economic development and has been lauded widely.

(The writer is the Director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of In Zhejiang)

Editor: Ye Ke