As an important driving force for global economic growth, China's adherence to its reform and opening up policy is injecting dynamism into and boosting confidence for world economic recovery. "China will open up still wider to the outside world," Chinese President Xi Jinping told a group of business leaders in the U.S. city of Seattle on Wednesday.
"Without reform, there will be no driving force; without opening up, there will be no progress." Indeed, thanks to the reform and opening up policy in the past decades, China has made impressive achievements with growing influence on the global stage. Now the country has turned into the world's second-largest economy, lifting millions of people out of poverty. However, China still is the world's largest developing country, whose GDP per capita average is two thirds that of the global average and one seventh that of the United States, ranking about 80th in the world.
Therefore, despite its great progress over the past decades, China's top priority still is development, with its fundamental way out lying in reform and opening up. "Our reform is aimed at modernizing the country's governance system and governance capabilities, so that the market can play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, the government can play a better role and there is faster progress in building a socialist market economy, democracy, an advanced culture, a harmonious society and a sound environment," Xi said.
The reform in China can create mechanisms to promote development, while foreign investment, technologies and talents attracted by China's opening up can revitalize its domestic market, further improving the mechanisms for reform. Amid doubts that China may not be able to provide favorable conditions for foreign companies as before, President Xi reassured that China will never close its doors to the outside world and that the government will continue to protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in China and improve services for foreign companies operating in China.
"We respect the international business norms and practices of non-discrimination, observe the WTO principle of national treatment, treat all market players including foreign-invested companies fairly, and encourage transnational corporations to engage in all forms of cooperation with Chinese companies," he said. "We will address legitimate concerns of foreign investors in a timely fashion, protect their lawful rights and interests and work hard to provide an open and transparent legal and policy environment, an efficient administrative environment and a level playing field in the market, with effective intellectual property rights protection in particular, so as to broaden the space of cooperation between China and the United States and other countries," he added. In fact, figures show that foreign investors have confidence in China's development.
In the first eight months of 2015, foreign direct investment grew 9 percent to 85.3 billion U.S. dollars. In the next five years, the country is expected to import goods worth 10 trillion U.S. dollars, with outbound investment exceeding 500 billion dollars and the number of people taking foreign trips surpassing 500 million. China owes its development to the international community and China in turn has made its contributions to global development. By adhering to reform and opening up, China and the rest of the world will continue this win-win situation.
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