Opinion

Steady Expansion of Institutional Opening Up

Amidst a world fraught with turbulence and transformation - where the tide of economic globalization confronts headwinds and international economic cooperation faces unprecedented and complex tests - China has not only sustained but accelerated its pace of opening up, marching steadfastly towards greater depth, breadth, and standard.

This expanded opening up continuously unleashes powerful momentum for economic development, profoundly shifting China's weight and role in the global economic landscape. In 2025, the total value of goods trade surpassed RMB 45 trillion for the first time, a year-on-year increase of 3.8 percent. China is poised to remain the world's largest trader for the ninth consecutive year, solidifying its position as a "critical link" stabilizing global industrial and supply chains. Meanwhile, trade in services secured its place as the world's second-largest, with its total value exceeding USD 1 trillion for the first time in 2024.

Behind this immense trade volume lies a profound optimization of the trade structure and a continuous increase in "innovation quotient." The "new three" products - electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products - have accelerated their global expansion, becoming new calling cards of "Made in China." Concurrently, burgeoning new business models like cross-border e-commerce and bonded maintenance are fostering new drivers of growth.

China has established and refined a series of high-level opening-up platforms, positioning them as "comprehensive laboratories" for institutional innovation. A total of 22 pilot free trade zones now span the country's east, west, south, north, and central regions, forming a holistic pilot framework. Within these zones, the negative list management model has extended from foreign investment access to emerging areas such as cross-border trade in services and cross-border data flows.

On the stage of global economic governance, China has constructively participated in WTO reform, facilitating progress in several key negotiations. Its solemn pledge not to seek new special and differential treatment in future WTO negotiations has earned widespread appreciation from the international community.

By unswervingly advancing institutional opening up, China not only integrates global resources and ignites its internal dynamism but also provides a beacon of certainty, stability, and renewed hope for a world undergoing profound changes.

Policy

1. The State Administration for Market Regulation has issued the action plan for enhancing smart regulation capabilities in inspection and testing. It sets the goal of basically establishing a unified national smart regulation platform for inspection and testing by the end of 2027.

2. China on March 2 made public new guidelines to accelerate the high-quality development of sci-tech insurance, among broader efforts to strengthen technological self-reliance. The document, which was issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration, sets out 20 measures across six areas, aiming to build a sci-tech insurance system that is better aligned with technological innovation.

Data

1. Horgos Port in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region hit a new single-month record in January, handling a total of 2,865 tons of goods with a trade value over RMB 30.76 million.

2. The Yangtze River Delta region recorded a new GDP high of RMB 34.66 trillion in 2025, with the number of cities with GDP exceeding RMB 1 trillion rising to 10.

3. Customs data shows western China’s foreign trade surged 63.8 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) to RMB 19.5 trillion, outpacing the national average by 19.4 percentage points. In 2025 alone, the region’s imports and exports hit a record RMB 4.4 trillion, up 8.7 percent year-on-year, lifting its share of the national total to 9.7 percent.

4. The East China Fair (ECF) opened its four-day exhibition on March 1 in Shanghai at a record scale, according to official sources. This year ECF has set up an exhibition area of 115,000 square meters and 5,291 standard booths. The event attracts more than 3,325 enterprise exhibitors worldwide.

5. Since Hengqin’s Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone adopted its new customs operation on March 1, 2024, customs have recorded over 6.26 million vehicle crossings by February 28 this year. The zone’s import and export value has neared RMB 70 billion, growing at an average annual rate of 31.8 percent.

6. China Southern Airlines officially took delivery of its 10th C919 aircraft on March 2, as the domestically produced jet completed its flight from Shanghai Pudong to Guangzhou Baiyun at around 11:45 a.m.

7. According to tax big data analysis by the State Taxation Administration, the development of a unified national market progressed steadily in 2025. Inter-provincial trade sales increased by 4.5 percent year-on-year last year, accounting for 41 percent of national sales, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous year. Over 80 percent of provinces recorded positive growth in inter-provincial sales.

8. The X8151 China-Europe Railway Express departed Xi'an International Port Station for Duisburg, Germany, on March 2, becoming the 1,000th China-Europe freight train to leave Xi'an in 2026 - 19 days earlier than last year’s record and representing a year-on-year growth of over 30 percent.

9. China has made significant progress in wildlife conservation, with improved habitat quality and stable population growth for numerous endangered species. Over 80 percent of key state-protected terrestrial wildlife species in the country have been brought under protection, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration in a media release on March 3, which marked the United Nations World Wildlife Day.

10. China’s 2026 Spring Festival Cultural and Tourism Consumption Month wrapped up on March 3, having featured around 35,000 events nationwide and distributing approximately RMB 420 million in consumption vouchers and subsidies.

(Source: Economic Daily)